Mes Amis
by KymanLover
Summary: Stan and Kyle have always relied on each other when it comes to their problems, but when Kyle can't help him with what is his worst mistake to date, Stan goes on the run. How far will the redhead go to get back his estranged best friend, and will their relationship be the same between them if he does find him? Assorted Pairings *if you want the list,see final chapter A/N* COMPLETE
1. Cynicism

**A/N: So this is my first Fanfic attempt, so bare with it, and please review even if you're a new reader!  
It starts kind of slow I guess, but I hope you'll agree that it will get better as it goes on :D**

**Warnings...: Cursing, Eventual slash, Eventual character death, Alcholism, Violence... Ect.**

**Oh and all characters and things belong to the geniuses that are Trey Parker and Matt Stone, those guys are awesome!**

**So enjoy!**

* * *

**Mes Amis**

Kyle got to the bus stop on the cold, December, Tuesday morning feeling slightly on edge. He wasn't sure why, but he felt like something was wrong and that it was something pretty significant. He saw Cartman and Kenny waiting there already, talking about something to do with Kenny's self-proclaimed ability to get any girl he wanted, and they seemed to be getting pretty angry about it. Kyle sighed and attempted to ignore them, trying to work out why he was feeling the way he did. He knew it wasn't the disagreement between his two friends; they'd had the same one plenty of times before. No, this was different. He looked around and then down at his watch. It was nearly time for the bus to arrive, and Stan hadn't arrived yet, although it was possible he wasn't going to turn up at all as he had been 'sick' the day before, (although Kyle assumed he was just skiving due to the fact that he had been perfectly fine when he saw him on Sunday afternoon, but didn't see the point in bringing this point up as his best friend coughed down the phone at him on Monday morning) so he just shrugged it off and went back to pondering his situation.

"KAHL! You stupid Jew, answer me! Tell Kenny to stop thinking he's so hot and that he's a poor piece of crap!"

Kyle looked up from the ground, startled by his sudden involvement in their argument.

"Kyle, tell _him_ that I can! You know I can, dude, remember that hot blonde from the arcade the other day?" Kenny nodded his head proudly, crossing his arms and standing smugly.

Kyle looked at Cartman scowling at him, and then to Kenny who was raising his eyebrows, knowing Kyle didn't particularly want to get involved.

"I... Urm... Well he has been out with a lot of girls-" Kyle had started, but just to be interrupted by Cartman and another one of his counter-arguments.

Kyle took this as a chance to quickly stuff his headphones in his ears and wait for the bus in peace, without being dragged into a discussion he had no business being in. It was at this time that the bus actually came rocketing down the road, stopping with a screech in front of the three sixteen year olds. He looked over and saw Cartman grumpily stick his hands in his pockets and board the bus, Kenny looking self-satisfied following behind him. He had probably succeeded in winning the fight, although it probably wouldn't be long before it would start back up again. Kyle went forward onto the bus behind the blonde boy, just to be stopped mid-step by a voice calling his name from down the road. He took a step backwards; making sure one foot was left on the bus so it couldn't drive off without him, and scanned the area. It was after a brief second he realised that Stan was running in their direction, his two bags flapping behind him, and his trusty red poofball hat falling off his head, just to be caught in the boy's hand as he approached the bus. When Stan was in close enough proximity, Kyle continued onto the bus and sat in their usual spot at the back of the vehicle, with Cartman to his left and Kenny two seats forward, talking to a cute brunette girl but taking the time to wink and thumbs up at him as he walked past shaking his head. Cartman was still looking irritable, but had put in his headphones and was bopping his head in time to the music. Stan was walking towards them slowly, breathing heavily as he dumped his bags on the floor in front of his seat. He flopped down next to Kyle giving him a quick 'thanks' and stared out of the window.

Kyle studied his best friends face thoughtfully; it was pale and his eyes looked slightly red, but with no emotion behind them. It was just a blank stare that concerned Kyle quite a lot. He also realized that the raven-haired boy's mouth was twitching occasionally and he would sometimes furrow his brow and would pinch the bridge of his nose, and then go back to his same blank stare. He hadn't even taken the time to put his hat back on. Instead it lay on his lap, limp and lifeless, just like the boy himself.

"Dude, what's wrong; are you alright?" Kyle went to touch his friend's hand, but it was snatched away quickly at the sudden contact and he looked on worriedly.

"Yeah, fine. Why are you looking at me like that?" Kyle stayed silent as Stan replied hostilely, "Just leave it, I said I'm fine." He then turned back away to the window and glared out of it, mumbling something under his breath that Kyle couldn't quite hear.

The redhead slumped backwards into his chair, not knowing how to proceed. He knew something was wrong, but he didn't think that he was going to be able to find out what it was right now, considering his first reaction. He decided to just leave it as his friend had said, and ask about it later when nobody else was around and for now he just turned up the volume in his headphones and waited for the journey to be over.

Surely enough, the pupils came bounding off the bus, bustling to find their respective groups and to catch up on any gossip before first period. As Kyle, Cartman and Kenny headed towards the school steps, their usual school hang out spot, they noticed Stan hesitate and then walk off in the other direction, heading towards the gym.

"Where's the fuck is the hippie going? I need to use his math answers to 'check' against mine" Cartman complained as he watched him leave.

"I dunno, he seems really distant today. Well he has been for a while really; it's just not been this bad. Urgh, I wish he would just talk to me." Kyle scowled at the plump teen who was now sitting across from him who didn't seem to care at all that his friend was upset.

"He's probably just got too much sand in his vagina, Kahl, I mean, he is with you quite a lot, you must have infected him with it."

"Shut the fuck up, Fat-ass! For the last time I do not have a vagina and if I did it wouldn't have sand in it!"

"If Kyle had a vagina, he'd have _me_ in it," Kenny sniggered as he saw the disgusted look on Kyle's face, "Okay, sorry Kyle, but I kinda had no choice but to say it." He laughed again, and then straightened up a little, "You are right though, Stan's been acting really odd lately, and I don't really know why either."

They all exchanged glances and then Kyle sighed, "I'm going to talk to him later. It'll all be fine really; he's probably just stressed out or something, like with football and stuff." Kyle shrugged awkwardly, and then tried to change topic, "So did you guys see the game last night?"

At that, the boys temporarily forgot about their moping friend and had a lengthy discussion about the game, leading into a fired up argument between Kyle and Cartman about who should have won. For now, things were back to normal and they carried on into the day as they normally would.

Being the intelligent guy that he was, Kyle sat in his AP English class, waiting for the teacher to begin the lesson whilst scanning the room for his last essay partner, Wendy Testaburger. She was nowhere to be seen, and the redhead began to worry.

They were assigned their joint researched project last week and they had been working practically non-stop together to get it just perfect. They often teamed up for these kind of things, as they were both smart and neither settled for less than an A grade and would do anything to avoid the depths of a B or below. As well as this, both students had perfect attendance. Since leaving grade school, Kyle had never gotten sick with more than a cold, unlike his multitudes of illnesses in elementary school. As for Wendy, she did everything in her power to stay as healthy as humanly possible and even when she did get sick, she trudged into school anyway, claiming she could rest between classes and there would be no point staying in bed all day.

Kyle thought about this, and that made him panic even more. And to add to his annoyance at the situation, Wendy was the one with the paper as she was the more organised of the two, and so he was partner and assignment-less as he sat fretting in his seat. The lesson was meant to be spent reading their papers out to the class, but as Wendy wasn't there he feared he would be failed and this made his mind go into over-drive. He knew this was going to be a bad day, and he was pretty sure it wasn't going to get better any soon.

He shuffled uneasily to the front of the room, head facing downwards until he stopped in front of his teacher, Mrs Graham, and looked up at her. Being quite small in height, Kyle had to take a couple steps backwards to make sure he was looking up at his teacher's face and not her abnormally large chest, as it was going to take all the acting skills he could muster to try to weasel himself out of doing his assignment today. Mrs Graham was never one to accept excuses for late work- no exceptions.

"Urm... Mrs Graham?"

The busty teacher looked down at the boy in front of her, and looked at the clock. The lesson was already starting two minutes late, and she didn't have time to talk to him. Instead she raised one of her eyebrows and asked him to sit back down in his seat.

"But, Miss, I... Um... "

"Kyle, I don't have the time! What is it that you want?"

"Can I go to the nurse's office? I'm not feeling well and... Um... I think I might throw up all over the place if I don't get to a bathroom or something..." He made a great deal out of holding his stomach and trying to look as distressed as possible.

She stared at the boy, at first looking unconvinced, especially as she had already taken roll call and realised that Wendy wasn't present; however she glanced at the clock and back at the redhead. She knew from their past English debate sessions that he was a persistent person who would take a long time to give in to an opposing view. At this thought she sighed heavily.

"Fine, Kyle. Just go and we'll hear from you next lesson, however you should know I'm not very happy about this." She raised her eyebrow again and gestured towards the door in slight annoyance, but also a sense of relief that she could now carry on with her lesson. Kyle obediently rushed over to pick up his things and shot out of the door, not daring to look back in the fear that she would be behind him and change her mind and order him back in the room.

After Kyle had exited the main school building and had reached the steps leading into it, he sat down and leaned against the bars at the side and pondered what he should do for the next period. He didn't want to leave the school grounds, in fear of getting caught by someone around town, but there was nowhere in school he could go without being stopped by another teacher and sending him back to class. He decided it would be best to go to the nurse's office after all, knowing that to make sure his alibi was tight, he should make a quick trip there so he could say he went without lying, and then leave after the nurse assured him there was nothing wrong, so that he could roam the school without questioning by answering that he was simply on his way back going there.

Just as he heaved himself up from his resting place, he saw a very recognisable hat bobbing around by the front gates, kicking a rock back and forth, his hands pushed firmly in his pockets and his head hanging low. The person would sometimes jump backwards out of the way of the gate when he heard a car coming, and then when he saw the coast was clear, he would go back to his original place and continue this cycle. Kyle made his way towards him, trying to remain out of the view of the raven.

"Stan?"

The boy looked around startled, pulling his hands out and holding them up to his chest in a defensive manor, searching around frantically for the incoming voice. When he saw Kyle approaching him warily, he looked a bit aggravated, but at the same time a bit relieved. The Jew seemed to be having that effect on a lot of people today.

"Stan, what are you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same question, dude."

"Well you could, or you could just answer me."

"Damn it Kyle, why do you have to be such a smart-ass about everything? Kyle just... Just... Stop talking so much shit! Everything that comes out of your mouth is shit, so just leave me alone!"

"Stan...?" Kyle didn't know what to say. He expected this kind of verbal abuse from Cartman, but whenever he and Stan had arguments in the past, each anger stricken insult thrown his way from the raven-haired boy had hurt him deeply.

"I... I... Kyle I'm sorry..." He looked distressed, like he wasn't sure what he was saying, "...I'm sorry you're such a shitty ass-hole!" He grabbed at his hat in frustration, turning and facing different directions every few of the passing seconds, as if he was screaming inside his head, "Kyle, I need your help... I... I'm back on the bottle...'

The redhead was lost for words once again. He had noticed Stan's cynicism coming back slowly, but he just assumed that it wasn't that big of a deal. His best friend had been to therapy and had been sober and happy for years and had never had the thought of things ever going back to the way they were, however as soon as he had revealed that last confession, Kyle felt sick to his stomach.

"For how long...?"

"A couple weeks, maybe...?" he sighed.

"So why tell me now? Why not all those weeks ago?"

"I... I thought I could handle it. But I g-guess I couldn't. I couldn't handle it Kyle."  
Kyle tried to analyse the words his friend had just said. He saw the look of fear dancing around in Stan's eyes, his paler than usual complexion starting to turn green.

"W-what? What exactly is it that you couldn't handle?"

"I didn't mean to do it Kyle, I swear to you I didn't..."

"Stan, what did you do?" He could feel the fear inside of him building up, not sure whether he wanted to know the answer to this question, and by the look on the other boy's face, it didn't seem like he wanted to give one.

They both shuffled on the spot, glancing at each other until Stan suddenly broke the silence.

"I hit her."

"What...?"

"Kyle I need your help. I-I need to sort this out..."

"You hit her? Who is 'her' exactly?"

**A/N: Again, I would really appreciate it if you could review it and tell me how I can improve things, I just hope you're enjoying it so far, and if you're not, don't give up on it yet! Give me a few more chapters to make it up to you! :')**

**^.^XXX**


	2. Hells Pass

"I hit her once. She took the drink out of my hand and started spouting shit about how I had to stay away from it because I should remember what happened last time. I couldn't handle it, Kyle. I hit her. She looked at me, she looked so scared and I broke down completely. I hit her a second time. I hit her a third time. I hit her a lot, Kyle. I hit her a bit too much..." his voice trailed off after his long awaited revalation. Kyle had completely lost the rational part of him now and was freaking out inside his head; cogs whirring trying to work out whom exactly this 'her' was. Then he felt a twang in his stomach. Wendy.

"Stan, where is she right now?" Kyle asked hastily, not bothering to confirm his suspicions. His gut instincts were usually right.

"She... I..." he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Hells Pass."

"Dude... I'll be back in a bit... I'll be back for you... But I've got to go..."

And at that, Kyle ran out of the gates he had at one point been terrified to approach during school hours, bolted towards the closest bus stop and got on the one that would bring him to Hells Pass Hospital. He had to see what Stan had claimed to have done for himself. There was no way Stan could have done anything as serious as he had been making it out to be. He was just over exaggerating that's all. Yeah, that's all.

As Kyle approached the hospital, he quickly hopped off the bus, his feet barely scraping the ground as he bounded towards the front doors. He was very familiar with this place; he had been there many times before as a kid, the memories not being particularly pleasant to say the least.  
He made his way into the similar surroundings that had always been in the reception area, a further sense of anxiety creeping up the boy's spine. He looked at the empty seats sitting beside each other, the tables in front laden with old magazines with tattered edges and faded pictures. The clock on the wall was huge and would click loudly every minute, a feature that would often cause his trips to the emergency room even worse than they already were. It was clicking now, causing Kyle to snap out of his reminiscent state and make his way towards the main desk.

After a lengthy argument with the nurse about why he should be allowed in to see his friend even though he wasn't family and that he should be in school, one that Kyle was never going to give up, the boy was shown his way to the room Wendy was in reluctantly, the nurse giving him an angry glare as she walked away.  
Before approaching her, Kyle stood and observed Wendy from a distance. She was propped up slightly in a hospital bed, a pink book held in one hand whilst resting on her lap and a fluffy pen in the other. She was scribbling away hastily at the page, her head ducked over the pages as she concentrated on what she was writing. Her long black hair fell to the sides of her head, blocking Kyle's vision of her face, but he could still see her arms which had various bruising on them. He felt like he was going to be sick.  
He hesitantly took a step forward. Then another. And then a few more. Before he had even realised it, Kyle was standing right next to the bed, staring down into Wendy's surprised face. He saw the dark bruising on the girl's left cheek, and the scratched skin on the other side. He felt a tear prickle in his eyes. His best friend was a monster.

"H-hi Wendy."

The girl was stunned at Kyle's sudden appearance, not knowing what was going on. Stan had threatened her as well as beating her to a bloody pulp; if she told anybody that he was the one who caused all of this, he would come back and 'finish her off'.

"W-what are you doing here? I-I... D-does Stan know you're here?..." she looked around the room frantically, clutching at the sheets underneath her as if they were her only lifeline.

"Well... He urm... He kinda told me you were here... And then I ran here... So he probably worked it out..."

"He told you I was here?"

"Yeah..."

"Did he... He..." She looked around another times before returning her gaze to Kyle. "Did he tell you why?"

Kyle nodded slowly, not knowing how else to proceed.

"He hit me. A lot. He knocked me unconscious. The last thing I remember is seeing Stan drinking by himself at Starks Pond, and then him attacking me and shouting at me like the crazy guy that I obviously never knew lived inside my boyfriend. After that, I was here, my mother and father looking down at me and the nurses running around looking for the doctor. Apparently I was left on the outside steps before somebody came by and saw I wasn't actually awake. He obviously didn't care enough about me to at least alert them that I was there, but why should I expect him to, I mean, look at me!" a tear slowly fell from her eye, down onto the page of the book she had been writing in.

"Wendy, I-I... I'm so sorry. I really am."

"Why? It's not like it was your fault..." she looked at the redhead's hands. She smiled weakly, "Are those for me?"

As well as being allowed onto the ward, Kyle had been able to obtain some flowers that he had pulled out of a random vase on his way up to the room and was gripping at them in front of him. As soon as he had come back to a realization of where he was and what exactly was going on there, he quickly thrust the flowers in the girl's face. "Urm... Yeah they are for you, if you like them... If you don't, I can get rid of them or something, I just-"

"I love them. Thank you, Kyle." Wendy had cut him off quietly but authoritatively. Kyle stopped babbling obediently and edged closer towards where the girl was lying, noticing that she was still staring up at him questioningly. Instead of saying anything though, she just stayed there, eyes fixed, making Kyle feel a bit awkward about the whole situation in general.

"S-so... How's the hospital food?" he tried to break the silence and Wendy let out a quiet chuckle.

"It's actually not too bad. I guess it has to be decent if they're going to have such bad doctors." she was smiling as she thought it over in her head.

"Yeah..." Kyle pondered this thought too, before they both looked at each other and felt the urge to let out another chuckle. There was no particular reason, but after a few more moments they just both burst out laughing.

"Thanks, Kyle."

They had both stopped their random attack of the giggles, and she was staring up at him once again, head leaning on one of her shoulders her hair falling backwards with a very sincere look on her face.

"For what? The flowers? You've already said that, Wendy... Did you get a bit of amnesia when... You know..."

She laughed again, "Thank you for making me smile, for making me laugh, for making me feel like I'm not so alone in this place." she blushed slightly, breaking her gaze with the boy who in turn felt his face turn a slight pink.

"Um... No problem. That's what friends are for, right?" he smiled reassuringly down at the dark haired girl.  
She then proceeded to sit up properly in her bed and shuffle sideward slightly, allowing the small Jewish boy to perch on the edge of it. As he turned to face her, he felt two arms fling themselves around him, a head nuzzling into his shoulder. It wasn't the kind of hug he usually had with girls, it was a hug of true friendship, one which seemed like he was complete and that no matter what happened, she was going to be one of those people who he was friends with for life. He proceeded to entangle his arms around her as he heard her mumble, "I'm glad I have a friend like you, Kyle Broflovski." to which he replied, "And I, you, Miss Testaburger".

They stayed in that position for a while until he felt a vibration in his pocket.

*_Kenny- dude where the fuck are u u didn't come back to English you missed it her boobs nearly dropped out of her top hahaha ;-)_*

That's right, Kenneth 'Poor and Stupid' McCormick was in AP English, as well as some other high classes with Kyle, after he one day suddenly decided he wanted to turn his life around and make things better for himself but also to provide for his little sister, Karen. His older brother Kevin wasn't around much anymore and so it was up to Kenny to make sure things around the house were stable enough for her to not get taken off into care again, although it was what he had been doing all his life so it didn't affect him much. This didn't stop him from being the perverted guy he always had been though, but then again, he wouldn't be the same Kenny if he wasn't. He always made sure he did all his work to the best standards he could and didn't take any crap from anyone for doing so, as well as just being genuinely a smart guy and knowing that one day he'd be 'Rich and Smart' instead.

*_Kyle- ive just got sum stuff to sort out, b back later_*

As he sent his reply back to the blonde, he noticed he had accidentally knocked Wendy's book off of the bed and onto the floor and bent down to retrieve it.  
*My Diary* was written across the front in bold letters, with glitter dusted lightly on top of it. He picked it up tentatively, not wanting to have any glimpse of what was written inside at the fear of being torn to shreds by the girl of which it belonged. If there was one thing Kyle knew about girls, it was that they kept secrets. Secrets that were usually better off staying that way.  
He placed it delicately in Wendy's pale hands and then resumed sitting down to the side of her. To his surprise though, she opened up the book and flicked through the pages to the day's date and put it back in Kyle's hands.  
Looking from Wendy to the book a few times, he assumed that he was expected to read it and although he was still a bit apprehensive, he decided to read what was in front of him.  
_  
I can't take being in this hospital, it's so boring and there is nothing here to interest me at all. I have a television, but not with any decent shows. At least I could sleep yesterday, now I'm just lying here and I can't even expect any visitors. My parents are working and nobody else knows I'm here but Stan. But he's not going to come anyway; he couldn't even walk me in the door. Oh well, just shows what guys are like I guess-_.

After that, it seemed like she was going to continue writing something but it had lead into a scribble. It was probably when Kyle had walked in and distracted her.  
He processed the words he had just read and thought about how terrible the girl must have felt, not having anybody with her and then realised why it meant so much for her that he had turned up.

Kyle looked at Wendy, who was smiling weakly, facing the window, and then back at him. He took the fluffy pen from her fingers and started writing something after what had already been written, as she just looked on, not really minding at all. When he had finished he gave it back to her where it read,

_Hi Wendy, if ever you feel lonely and need somebody, I will always be there for you. Always. So keep smiling because you are amazing now and forever, Kyle x_.

At this point, Kyle was avoiding eye contact, his face gradually becoming a darker shade of pink as she read it, however he soon composed himself and the two exchanged a look of contentment at each other and then sat there talking for the next hour and a half. He knew how much she appreciated it, and felt good that he could make somebody else feel that happy.

"Don't you have to get back to school soon?" the nurse had made her way back towards the two after this time, looking just as annoyed as when she had left. "We are going to be serving lunch in five minutes, and we don't permit people to be here during that time as it can be quite disturbing for patients. So leave."  
She turned on her heal and walked away not bothering to wait for a reply. Kyle sighed, knowing he really should leave, it was nearly time for lunch at school too and so if he was going back he would rather go at that time so that he wasn't late for his afternoon lessons.

"Thank you so much for coming, Kyle, it has really made my day so much better," Wendy knew he had to leave too; she also knew she had been keeping him from lessons and didn't want him to get into too much trouble for ditching.

She pulled him into another tight embrace and then smiled at him as he said his reluctant goodbye and shuffled off of the ward, making a big deal out of glaring at the nurse as he walked past her and continued towards the exit. Wendy just giggled to herself and continued scribbling away at her diary. She had a lot more things to write about now. A lot more things.

**A/N: Did you like this chapter? I have quite a few more ideas for this story, but it could go in any direction really, so comments on how to improve and what you think should happen next would be greatly appreciated! x**


	3. Traitor

As Kyle approached the gates to go back into the school, he checked there were no teachers patrolling the grounds and dashed in, hoping he hadn't been noticed. "Where did you go?" a familiar monotonous voice came from behind him as he hurried his way towards the main school building.  
"I was... Out."  
Kyle turned around to see Craig behind him, surrounded by his usual gang of Token, Tweek, Jimmy and Clyde, all of their eyes peering at Kyle in wonder.

"W-where?" Jimmy stuttered from behind the blue-hatted boy.

"Nowhere exciting, it's not that big of a deal, guys." Kyle was trying to edge away from them but they continued to move with him.

"So why won't you tell us then?" Token stared at the Jew who at this point was on the brink of just sprinting away.

"It's not your business, that's why," he was starting to get aggravated by the constant questions being fired at him.

"I-it wasn't dangerous was it? Aak, you weren't smoking were you?" Tweek squeaked from behind the others.

"What? No, of course not! Look, I was just at home, OK? I wasn't feeling too well this morning so I went home, but now I feel better and I'm back. No big deal," Kyle thought it would be best to weave this lie into his earlier one so that he didn't have too many stories to stick too.

"Well Cartman and K-Kenny were looking for you so you s-s-should go find them." Jimmy stated and the boys left in the other direction as Kyle breathed a sigh of relief and ran towards the front steps.

Just before he reached there, however, the school bell rang out amongst the bustling students as they filed their way through the corridors and into their respective classrooms. Kyle had his next period with Kenny, Cartman and Stan (however he wasn't sure whether his best friend would be in attendance) next anyway, so he quickly got to his locker, pulled out his books and made his way to Chemistry.

As he reached the room, he was surprised to see that Stan was there, but his mind seemed to be adrift whilst he sat next to a fast talking Butters Stotch. He looked around the room to find his usual partner, Eric Cartman, arguing once again with Kenny. As the large boy noticed Kyle walk in the door, he beckoned him over with a head nod and continued talking to the blonde haired boy. Although Kyle and Cartman were often at each other's throats, the sciences were often the lessons where they were most at peace with each other, as they found that with Kyle's general smarts and Cartman's experimental behaviour, that they were a great team together, as well as their refusal to fail in their efforts being a bonus for their work.

As he started to walk across the room though, he was stopped in his tracks by their teacher, Mr Jones.

"Kyle, I want you to join with Leopold and Stanley for this experiment. Eric will be working with another pair as well; I think we need to get you helping some of the... less able pupils with their's." He hesitated as he looked around at the students, half of which had their equipment set out and ready, the others either having trouble or not bothering at all.

Kyle sighed in annoyance, but didn't have the willpower to argue back. He heard something along the lines of, 'Ay, where's the Jew boy going?' from Cartman, but continued over to Stan and Butters. Butters was struggling to connect all his pieces together on his own as Stan's gaze had not come back from the window he was facing.

"Please, Stan, I can't do this on my own and he'll be awful sore if we don't get it done soon..." Butters rubbed his knuckles together awkwardly not knowing how the other boy was going to react.

"Sort it, Butters." He didn't even look up; he just spoke with a sound of frustration in his voice.

"I'll help you, Butters." Kyle came up from behind him, startling him to a point where the small blonde nearly knocked all of the equipment on the floor.

"Kyle? W-why aren't you with Eric? You're always with him in this lesson, right?"

"Well, Butters," Kyle started piecing the tubes and things together with ease, not even needing any participation on the blonde's part, "I've been told that you needed a bit of help, so that's what I'm here to do."

At this, Stan whipped his head around a glared at him, standing up and pushing his chair back as he did so.

"So when others need help, you help them, but when I ask you for it you run a mile?"

Kyle didn't know how to respond to this, he felt like anything he said would set the muscular teen off into a rampage; the main target being his face.

"I... I said I'd be back... and I am... I'm here now, Stan."

"I needed you then! I could have easily gone to anyone at that point, and I went to you Kyle, and you just ran off! Where did you even go?" He demanded, his voice rising in volume at each breath.

"I think we should have this conversation later, Stan..." he was becoming aware of the glances he was getting from around the room and Butters nervously twitching next to him.

"WHY? WHY SHOULD I? WHY CAN'T WE HAVE IT NOW?" His face was getting redder with anger, his hands in fists at his sides.

"Stanley, Kyle, Leopold, what is going on over here?" Mr Jones was standing behind them looking concerned.

"Nothing, sir... We're all set up now," Kyle tried to avoid the stares from everyone and change the subject as his teacher looked at the three boys.

"OK, that's good, so let's make sure we carry on this experiment at lower volume then please boys," He raised his eyebrow and then turned around and walked away.

"Stan, I'm sorry for leaving. When school is over we can try to sort this whole thing out and I swear I won't leave you again, just give me the chance..."

He stared at the dark haired boy, waiting for a reaction. Instead of him replying, he slumped back down into his chair and returned his gaze to the window and he stayed like that for the rest of the lesson whilst Kyle and Butters returned to their experiment with the small redhead apprehensively waiting for the end of the school day.

As Kyle's day continued, he found it harder and harder to concentrate on his school work and found himself getting more and more anxious about what was going to happen later that day. Stan was his best friend; they had been since before kindergarten, so why was Kyle so scared about agreeing to help him? Was it that he was scared to be around him because of fear he would get attacked too, or was it just that he was scared to face the reality of what Stan had done and the kind of person he seemed to have now become?  
As the school bell rang out through the hallways and classrooms, the sound of excited teens spread throughout; the thought of the day ending was a happy one for most of them. As the halls buzzed, Kyle retrieved some books from his locker gingerly and started to head towards the front doors of the school. Although they hadn't specified a meeting place, it was most likely that the front steps would be it and even if it wasn't, he'd have to pass past there to get to any other location anyway.  
Just as he was about to get to the door however, he was stopped by some familiar voices.

"Ay, Kahl, you stupid Jew-rat, you wanna come hang with me and Kinny?"

"Yeah come on Kyle, I don't think I can deal with this fuckin' retard all afternoon on my own, hahaha!"

Cartman and Kenny stood behind Kyle, their faces looking expectant and impatient when they realized the other boy's hesitation.

"Sorry guys, I can't. I'm hangin' with Stan today."

"You'd rather hang out with that buzz kill than us? That's weak, dude. If you're secretly screwin' each other, you should let it out man."

"Shut up you fat fuck! He's not... feeling well... so I'm going to help him sort himself out, so stop with that crap!"

"Woah, look who's getting all defensive! Well I hope you have a fun time playing nurses, Kahl, I really do. I mean, if you're playing as a health professional then at least you'll remember to wear protectio-"

He was cut off by a fist from the redhead being shot straight into his stomach. The larger boy doubled over, screeching in pain, whilst Kenny just stood in the background laughing like an idiot.

"-The FUCK, KAHL?"

"I told you to shut up, Cartman!"

The boy stood back up, mumbling 'Goddamnit...' to himself whilst brushing at his shirt. At this point Kenny decided to intervene, "Kyle, I guess you should go find Stan now, so we'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah sure..." he mumbled in reply, shooting a weak smile in Kenny's direction and a sharp glare in Cartman's.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and quickly shuffled away after waving at the two boys he was leaving and pushing open the door.

As he had predicted, Stan was waiting for him on the steps looking quite mellow, yet infuriated at the same time. Without even turning around, he spoke, "Hello Kyle."

It was a simple 'hello' yet somehow it seemed to sound very sinister and unnerving from Kyle's perspective.

"Hi Stan..." he tried to sound as positive as possible without sounding too 'happy'; he was trying (and failing) to find the right balance of enthusiasm and concern.

"You're late, you know."

"I know... I got held up by Cartman and Kenny. You know what a stubborn bastard the fat boy is..."

"We're not here to talk about Cartman though, are we?"

"Well no, but..." where exactly was Stan going with this? "So what... What exactly do you need help with?"

"Am I no longer your best friend?"

"W-what? Yeah, of course you are still my best friend! Why would you ask that?"

"Your loyalties seem to lie with everybody else but me, Kyle."

"I'm here right now, Stan!" he was starting to get irritated by his 'best friend' and his constant moaning.

"I know, but for how long? How long will it be until you find somebody better to go run off and find?"

"Stan, look, I'm going to tell you this straight, right now, so listen to me," Kyle went up to Stan and glared at his eyes, boring into the depth of his soul, "If you want my help, tell me how and I will do everything in my power to help sort you out, but I swear to God if you keep questioning my loyalty to you and just generally keep being an ass, I will leave here right now and I don't want to have anything else to do with you."

With that, Kyle broke away the gaze, waiting to see Stan's response. After scanning the surrounding area and realizing everybody had left and this part of the school was now empty, the raven burst into a seemingly never ending bout of tears. Taken aback by this sudden sign of emotion, of which Stan had not seemed to show any of over the last few weeks, Kyle stood awkwardly, staring blankly at the boy in front of him. He at some point found the need to tap Stan's shoulder and attempt to be comforting by uttering words such as 'there, there' and 'it's good to let it out; it'll all be ok, dude', to which Stan replied to by sobbing even harder.

For the next 5 to 10 minutes, Kyle sat down on the step with Stan weeping into shoulder. The redhead could smell the stale stench of alcohol on the other boy, its smell making him gag slightly, however he knew he couldn't move away as his friend seemed to need him now more than ever.

"I'm so sorry, Kyle. I didn't mean to do anything like that, I swear it..." he mumbled.

"What can I do to help you, Stan?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Well what should we do?"

"I..."

"Maybe we should... go and see Wendy? Maybe you could apologize and it would help you start to get back on track...?"

"She won't ever want to see me again..."

"You still need to apologize to her, though."

"But if they don't let me in, how could I do that...?"

"They will let you in; nobody knows it w-was you..."

"Yeah..." he looked up slowly and glanced at his watch, "Yeah, I should go see her... will you come with me?"

"Urm... yeah... I guess so," he looked at his best friend who was now on his feet, dusting himself off and gazing down at him in return.

They then started their awkward trek to the same bus stop that Kyle had already familiarised himself with earlier that day. As they stood there in the cold, facing outwards towards the road, they watched their icy breath escape from their lips and shivered slightly in the bracing cold wind.

As the bus approached and they boarded it, Kyle could sense Stan getting more and more tense as they continued their journey onwards. He continually became paler, and as they reached the front doors of the hospital the raven-haired boy stopped, his knees locked in place as they refused to carry on.

"I-I can't."

"Yes you can, Stan, you don't really have much of a choice."

"I do have a choice, I can leave right now," he turned around and stared at the bus that was now slowly driving away and sighed quietly, "It's not that far to walk."

"Fine. But if you leave right now, I won't be able to help you anymore. And I won't be coming back for you." Kyle kept his voice soft but firm, glaring at the other boy whose skin was starting to blend with the surrounding snow.

They stood and looked at each other until Kyle broke the stare away and headed towards the door. He took one last look back at the boy behind him and sighed as the latter showed no sign of moving.

He informed the receptionist of his visit and headed towards where he knew Wendy was, slightly relieved not having to go through the awkward encounter of his two dark-haired teen friends at this moment in time.

When he reached the ward, he saw Wendy reading a book, her headphones in her ears, looking content. He wasn't sure if he should disturb her but just before he turned on his heels he heard a voice call out, "Hey, Kyle."

"Hey Wendy, are you feeling any better?" he strolled up to the side of the bed and sat in the same position he had earlier.

"Well it hasn't been very long since you were last here, but yeah your visit did make me feel much better, thanks," she smiled sweetly as she sat up next to the boy.

"Well that's good then."

"So... why are you back?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, you've already come once today, I wasn't expecting you to come back."

"Oh... Well, I-I came with Stan..."

"Really...?," she glanced around the room quickly "Well where is he?"

"He... He left as we got to the door. He said he couldn't do it..."

"I see... Funny, I nearly thought you were going to say he was going to greet me with flowers and chocolates," she laughed sarcastically.

"Well do you want me to try and get him back...?"

"No, he can go ruin his life with somebody else for all I care. If he's not even going to bother to call the hospital and see how I am, let alone actually come and visit me, I don't care where he is..." she sounded annoyed, but there was a hint of sadness in her voice too; she wasn't being sincere, but she did look very irritated.

"He really is sorry Wendy..."

"Why are you defending him? I know he's your best friend, but from what I've seen over the last couple of weeks he's just treated you like, well, shit really."

"I promised him I'd help him. Stan rarely ever asks for help, he's too proud, so when he actually does I know he truly needs it."

"Wow, you are such a good friend, Kyle. Most people would have just walked away by now, but you really are one of the best people I know. He's so lucky to have you as a best friend," she leaned onto his shoulder as he held his arm around hers.

"Thanks," he watched as she slowly moved around completely in the bed so that she was facing him directly, "I wish he saw it like that..."

"I'm serious, Kyle. I really appreciate you being here."

"Yeah, well I think if Stan's not going to come here then the least I can do is visit you myself. I'll come every day if you want, or just as often as you need me to; just call me and I'll come down."

As they sat there they stared at each other for a few moments and then started talking about random topics that came to mind. Two hours later Kyle got up to leave. He didn't actually want to, but as he had school the next day and had a lot of homework to do that night he thought it would probably be for the best. They had already worked on improving his joint essay with Wendy and now had a copy for himself that he could present if she didn't come back to school in time. Just as he did leave, however, he felt himself pulled into another friendly embrace to which he contentedly returned. Just as they were both about to let go of each other, however, there was a loud shout from the other side of the room.

"WHAT THE HELL? WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO STEAL MY GIRL?"

"W-what?" Kyle quickly whipped his arms off of Wendy and turned to look at Stan who standing behind him, his face red with anger.

"No wonder you wanted to '_help'_ me; you wanted to look like the good guy whilst I looked like the bad one?"

"N-no I..."

"Stan, it was just a hug, Kyle's done nothing wrong, leave him alone!" Stan had now grabbed Kyle by the collar and was pushing him against the wall as Wendy gasped and begged him to stop.

"He's a fucking TRAITOR!"

"Stan, all I did was hug her, I wasn't trying to look like the '_good'_ guy! And I didn't make you look like a bad guy, you did that yourself by being a fucking dickhead!"

That was the last thing Kyle remembered before everything turned black.

**A/N: Review? No? Aww. :( **


	4. Missed Messages

Slowly as his eyes opened, the lights on the ceiling seemed to flicker around quickly as he regained consciousness. Kyle sat up in his place and stared around him to see a much too familiar sight. He was lying in a hospital bed, the walls adorned with old photos of landscapes and the curtains in the windows drawn closed. He glanced towards the clock on the wall which read 10:34PM. He sighed slowly and turned his head to the side as he was about to lie back down. Just as he did so however he let out a quiet wince to himself as he felt his body ache.

He turned his head again in an attempt to get comfortable and let out another quiet scream as he noticed something next to his bed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh you're awake now, then? Took you long enough," The boy sitting next to the bed was none other than Kyle's younger brother Ike. He chuckled lightly and looked up from his phone at the bruised boy in front of him.

"W-what... What happened? Why am I in a hospital bed?"

"Because it's better than when you were on the hospital floor?" He continued to laugh not really paying attention to the concerned look and tone of his brother.

"Dude! What the hell is going on?"

"Ok, ok, well I don't know all the details yet so you'll have to go and talk to someone like Wendy or something at some point, apparently she was there, but basically Stan mashed you up dude," He watched as Kyle studied his own body in a panic, "But it wasn't that bad, they just kept you in because you passed out."

"Really...? Oh my God..."

"Should I go and get the nurse and tell her you're awake? I was meant to be on 'look out' and to tell them when you do."

"No, I'm still a bit dizzy, I'll go back to sleep for a bit, it's late anyway..." he started to place his head back down on his pillow once more, just to be reawaken by the sound of an incoming text coming from his pocket. When he pulled his phone out, he saw it had 12 unread messages:

_*Stan-Dude im sorry kyle im sorry I neva ment to do tht I was just...angry. more at myself than u tho so plz just text me back*_

_*Wendy-I'm so sorry for what has happened I promise you he won't get away with this, Kyle. He stormed out just after they took you out and I don't know where he's gone but can you please call or text me when you wake up because I'm really worried. x* _

_*Stan-u didnt text me back man I sed im sorry wat more do u want*_

_*Stan-fine fuck you I dont need u anyway*_

_*Cartman-dude I just saw Stan crying your name in the street what's going on with yu fags?*_

_*Stan-I miss u dudeee im soooooo sorrrryyyy noooo im not drunk obvssss dont judge me u bastard I mean it man im sorrryyy*_

_*Ike-hey the hospital called are you alright we're on our way over if you're awake*_

_*Stan-I just threw up*_

_*Cartman-what happened we heard your in the hospital?*_

___*Kenny-hey we just tried to call you, are you alright?*_

_*Stan-theyr coming after me I just saw the police theyr in my house theyr gonna get me y did u rat me out or was it wendy tht stupid bitch Y RNT U REPLYING Y DO U HATE ME KYLE HELP ME. PLZ. PLZ. PLZ KYLE.*_

_*Cartman-Goddamn it you stupid joo we're on our way*_

At that Kyle looked upwards as he saw Cartman bumbling in through the door, Kenny running up behind him, struggling to dragg two heavy looking chairs behind him.

"Is he awake?" the brunette looked straight towards the younger boy sitting next to the bed.

"No, he sleeps sitting up with his eyes open all the time, dumb ass," Ike stared with a sarcastic grin at the larger boy who just flipped him off and rushed to the other side of the bed.

"What happened to you, dude? You look like shit."

Kyle's eyebrow quirked slightly as he sighed, "Me and Stan had an... erm... disagreement..."

"This looks more than a disagreement, Ky," Kenny spoke up from next to Ike, scanning the injured boy's body.

"I'm gonna kill that fuckin' hippie..." Cartman mumbled as he too looked over Kyle's bruised body.

"Why? I thought you liked seeing me hurt?"

"_I_ like being the one to cause you pain, and not actually physical pain, more like mental insanity," he smirked at the Jew who rolled his eyes at him in return, "This is just too far though..."

"It's not that bad, Cartman..."

"You're more blue than white right now, dude."

"Well... It'll go down after a while, right? It's no biggie..."

"Why are you defending him? He's a retarded asshole who needs to make sure he stays out of my way if he doesn't want to die an early, messy death..." An evil grin crossed his face before he turned back to a concerned looking Kyle.

"Hmm... Everybody seems to be asking that today..." Kyle looked puzzled and then glanced back at the clock, "How did your parents allow you to come out this late anyway? Actually, Ike where are mom and dad?"

"My mom wasn't home as usual and Kenny just left, his parents don't give a crap about him, and your parents are asleep outside. Answer your questions?"

"Well yeah, even though they weren't all aimed at you."

"Well I'm just that amazing that I can answer all questions."

"You wish fat ass."

"Ay! I'm not fat, I'm big boned!" Cartman huffed, turning away from him. The truth is, over the years Cartman had lost quite a bit of his weight and proved to them that he actually was big boned. He was still fat though. No doubt about that.

"Whatever you say... fat ass," he smirked.

"Ay!"

"Is there anything you need or want, Kyle?" Kenny sighed, shaking his head at the two.

"Well... I could do with a drink of water, thanks."

"Ok, come on Cartman; let's go find Kyle something to drink."

"Why do I have to come?"

"Just come on fa-, Cartman, he needs some rest." He walked towards the door and then under his breath so the other boy couldn't hear him added, "From you..." with another sigh.

"Goddamnit..." he mumbled as he followed Kenny out of the room leaving Ike and Kyle sitting in awkward silence.

"So... Why are you?"

"Why am I what?"

"Why are you defending Stan?"

"Because... it's not his fault... he's going through a hard time... he doesn't know what he's doing most of the time any more... and if everyone else is just willing to give up on him straight after he makes some mistakes, then they obviously aren't very good friends. I like to think I am a good friend though, so I'm not going to give up that easily."

"That asshole could have killed you!"

"He was not going to kill me, Ike..."

"You said he doesn't know what he's doing, he easily could have! Especially if it was unprovoked..."

"Well I guess it wasn't really unprovoked..."

"What did you do?"

"I... I hugged Wendy," Kyle knew this wasn't a very good argument but he didn't have a better one so he just stopped instead of trying to come up with a new one.

"So is that how Wendy comes into all this? Ha. Right. So because you hugged her, he has the permission to pummel you to a pulp?" He raised his eyebrow.

"Well obviously when you say it like that it sounds bad... but I didn't say I gave him permission anyway, I just don't blame him for it. Well not directly. I mean... urgh..." Kyle dropped his head in his hands, his thoughts muddled and his head dizzy, "I think I really do need some rest... Where is Kenny with my water?"

They sat there in awkward silence for a few more minutes and waited for Kenny and Cartman's return. As Ike took out his phone and started typing away, Kyle realised he still had Stan and Wendy's messages to reply to. He stared at the texts he had received from Stan and decided he would have to leave that until tomorrow, he didn't particularly want to be greeted by a stream of drunken texts or the boy's slurred speech being spat at him through a phone call. He instead decided to reply to Wendy, who he assumed was probably still worrying about him, but may be asleep so he wouldn't have to reply back straight away and so he could have his drink and go back to sleep for a while.

*_Kyle-Hey Wendy, I'm ok now, I've been awake for about twenty minutes but I've been bombarded by questions and stuff so I've only just had a chance to reply. I hope you're still alright and you don't need to worry about me I'm fine.*_

Just as he was about to settle down again he heard his phone start ringing and sighed as he picked it up. To his surprise it was Wendy calling him back already.

"Hi, Kyle I know you said you're alright and everything but are you sure? I mean like I was really worried about you, I'm just glad you were in the hospital already or who knows what would have happened," Wendy was babbling on the other side of the phone, her voice concerned whilst Kyle sat there drifting in and out of what the girl was saying.

"Hey Kyle, here's your water, sorry we took so long we got a bit lost." Kenny walked in quietly.

"Lost? We've been here loads of times before..." Kyle nodded at him happily as he saw the water he was holding in his hands.

"Well I'm normally in the beds in this place; I don't usually go walking around looking for stuff when I'm unconscious..."

"True... Haha wow, we really need to stop getting sick and injured don't we," The two boys glanced at each other and then burst out laughing. Again, it wasn't that funny really, but they just felt the need to laugh at themselves instead of being so tense and on-edge.

"Kyle? Kyle? What are you laughing at?"

"Oh sorry Wendy, it was just something Kenny said. No, I totally agree with what you're saying," he said back to her after realizing he was still on the phone with her, even though he didn't really know what she was saying.

"Oh, Kenny's there? Since when?"

"Well he got here just after I woke up; him and Cartman."

"Cartman's there? Woah, are you sure he isn't sick too?"

"Haha, no he's just angry that Stan was the one to put me in here and not him,"

"Yeah, that sounds more like him,"

"Well he hasn't pissed me off too much yet, but I guess I'll just have to give him time..." he glanced at the fat boy who wasn't concentrating on their conversation.

The two teens continued talking for half an hour before Kenny and Cartman got bored sitting waiting for him.

"KAHL! Stop talking to that stupid bitch and talk to us! We're the ones who came all the way out to see you, you fucking Jew!"

Kyle sighed, "I'll call you tomorrow, Wendy, fat- ass is getting impatient,"

"I swear to God if you call me fat once more I will make sure you never get out of that bed..." Cartman mumbled half-heartedly. He looked tired and was slouching on the wall next to the bed staring around the room.

"Ok, I'll be waiting!" Wendy replied happily and with that Kyle ended the call and there was a loud sigh from everyone in the room.

"Wow that bitch can talk..." Cartman said sleepily.

"Well she's one of the few girls in our school who I can actually have a decent conversation with without wanting to shoot myself in the head from boredom."

"Well she's the most boring bitch of the lot to me; always talking about school and stuff. I couldn't deal with her barking at me all day long; I can barely stand being in the same room as her. Feel free to shoot _me _in the head if she attempts to come anywhere near me," he growled.

"She's not that bad, dude, you just hold grudges for way too long..."

Kenny was sitting quietly next to Cartman, his head down in thought. Or maybe lack of sleep. "She doesn't put out either."

"Kenny! What the hell?"

"No, no, don't worry I didn't try it on with her or anything... Stan told me."

"Oh..."

"Nah, she isn't my type anyway," he said with a snigger.

"I assumed your type was just anything female to be honest."

"Correction; anything female with a nice rack."

The three boys looked at each other and then burst out laughing again. Once again, it wasn't that funny, but it was just nice for them to be able to just sit and talks as guys without anyone there to expect anything from them.

"Cards?"

"Wait, what?" Kyle questioned as Cartman had an equally bemused look on his face.

"Do you two wanna play cards?"

"Where would we get them?"

"I've got some," the blonde boy reached into his jacket pocket, "see?"

"You just walk around with cards in your pocket?"

"Well it's a quick way to earn money when I need some," he laughed evilly to himself, "I know some bets that I can make that are guaranteed to get people to pay up."

"Ah, it's nice to know I'm friends with a conman. I don't know if I wanna play cards with you now though," Kyle laughed.

"Nah, we don't have to play for money if you're too pussy, we'll just play for fun."

"I thought you just said you liked pussy?" Cartman sniggered, as they all started laughing again and Kenny started dealing out the cards.

Kyle glanced to the chair next to his bed and watched his brother snoozing peacefully. He had forgotten that Ike was even in the room but smiled as he saw the little boy's head resting on the headboard of his own bed with his hands crossed in his lap, holding onto his phone firmly in one hand and the fingers on the other twitching in a melodic manor. He loved his little brother. He took his own blanket off of himself and placed it carefully over the boy. At first his body tensed up as he subconsciously felt it touch him, but immediately relaxed straight afterwards and curled his body up into his chair. He was adorable.

"Aww, it's nice to see you getting gay for your brother but I'd rather get back to the game where I'm about to whoop your Jew ass!"

"Shut up, Cartman!"

"Ok, whatever just come on!"

The boys sat in a triangle on the floor (after a long debate about whether Kyle should get up out of his bed in case he was going to collapse or something, but in the end Cartman and Kenny stood down because they were really too tired to argue with him) and for the next hour and a half they played various card games that normally didn't end properly, but instead had someone accused of cheating or one lasting so long that they just got bored and changed game. Slowly they could all tell each of them wanted to go to sleep but all secretly refused to be the one to admit this. Eventually, however they all simultaneously stopped the game, Kyle getting back into his bed, Cartman collapsing in one of the chairs and Kenny just crashing onto the floor. All of them fell asleep straight away after mumbling 'Night,' to each other before slipping into their respective unconscious states.

**A/N: So things seem to be a bit all over the place right now, there's lots of plot points slotted into this chapter, even though they're probably not recognizable yet. They still might not be later on if you weren't specifically looking for them, but that doesn't matter, :P**

**But yeah, I hope you're enjoying it so far!**

**^.^ XXX**


	5. Xbox and Cheesy Poofs

*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*

"Goddamnit…" Slowly each boy in the room was awoken by the sound of a loud cell phone alarm going off, as Cartman fumbled around in his pocket to turn it off, "Sorry, I forgot to turn it off last night."

"Well I guess it's good you left it on, you need to get home pretty soon if you're going to get to school on time." Kyle yawned as he began sitting up in his bed, leaning over to nudge his little brother.

"Don't wake him up, you idiot. Just let him sleep. We can all go back to sleep." Kenny piped up from the corner of the room. He seemed to have somehow traveled the entire length of the room whilst he was asleep, unless he had awoken in the night and moved consciously, but Kyle doubted that as he assumed that the blonde would have at least got up and sat on one the seats he had dragged into the room the night before if he had done so.

"What about school?"

"Kahl, I don't give a crap about school and Kenny and your brother are super geniuses like you and so one day without going isn't going to hurt any of you. Go to sleep."Cartman sighed as he tried to wriggle into a more comfortable position.

"But-"

"Kyle, he's right. I really don't want to go to school today anyway; my lessons are crappy, so we can all just chill here."

"But there's nothing to do here."

"We can… talk?" Just like the night before, all the boys burst into spontaneous laughter.

"ORRRR, I can go home at some point and grab my Xbox and we can just have a gaming mega marathon like we used to all the time before?" Cartman continued to shuffle around.

"Yeah! We should so do that," Kenny looked over at Kyle who at first still looked a bit concerned but instead just sighed and lay his head back down on the pillow.

He looked up at the ceiling and was about to close his eyes again when he heard a loud voice coming into his room.

"Oh my, oh my, oh my! My poor little Bubbulah, how did this happen? How could this happen? You are always so careful when you're out and about. Oh my poor little boy!" She continued to go on at the redhead who closed his eyes fully, groaning quietly as he just listened to his mother continue to rant. It wasn't for a few seconds until he realized his mother had paused in her tracks. He opened one eye and saw her looking around the room in shock getting evil glares back from the fat boy and being completely ignored from Kenny.

"What are you boys doing here? Kyle can't have guests, he's not well!"

Kyle shot a quick glance over to Cartman who looked like he was already prepared to 'kick her square in the nuts'.

"Mom they-"

"What time did you get here? It's a bit early for you boys to be up anyway isn't it?" She said with an arrogant tone.

"We've been here over night," Kenny said sleepily, leaning back against the wall, not noticing what he had just said.

"What, what, what?"

"KINNY!" The fat boy growled as he stood up from his chair with a loud sigh and walked towards where the woman was standing next to Kyle's bed.

"Cartman… What-" Kyle sounded wary as he saw the boy approaching his mother, fearing he would start an argument of some kind.

"Calm down, dude. Screw you guys, I'm going home" he said with a smirk.

He hadn't said that in a while but all of their memories they had been thinking about the night before were flooding back to him. As he reached the door however, he mouthed to Kenny 'I'm getting the Xbox; get rid of the dumb bitch!' and walked briskly out the door, whistling his song about Kyle's mom being a bitch as he did so. It was a fun ride home.

"I'm going to get the nurse and the doctor, Kyle, we need to get you checked for brain damages," she then went on to list a whole directory of problems that could be wrong with him. It was only when she bustled out of the room Kyle noticed his father standing behind her, looking like he didn't know what to do with himself. He smiled weakly at his oldest son and then tapped on Ike's shoulder as he heard his wife call for the younger boy. Ike looked confused as he shrugged the blanket off of him and got up slowly. He stared at the two other boys and said with ease, "I'll get rid of them," then turned on his heel and left the room, closing the door loudly behind him.

The room was eerily quiet when everybody had left leaving the blonde and the redhead behind. They sat in silence for a few moments, collecting their thoughts and reflecting on what had happened. It was peaceful and uninterrupted for quite a while. Kenny heaved himself up off of the floor and sat on the chair next to Kyle's bed and just continued to sit. There was no real reason for his movement apart from that it was more slightly more comfortable than the floor, and so the two boys carried on getting lost in their own thoughts.

"Wendy's alone." Kyle finally broke the silence.

"What?"

"Wendy. She's in the hospital too.

"Since when? You were talking to her yesterday, you didn't say anything."

"Since either Sunday or Monday, I think. And only a few people know she's even here. So she's sitting in her room alone most likely. It's sad." He sighed as he thought about this.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She..." He wasn't sure whether he should disclose that Stan had done the same thing to her as well, "She just hurt herself... pretty badly... and so they are keeping her here for observation or something like that."

"Oh..." Kenny looked perplexed, "So how did you know she was here? Does Stan know?"

Kyle twitched slightly in a way that was unnoticeable to Kenny before replying calmly, "Yeah, he's the one who told me she was here."

"Oh, right. Maybe that's why he's so on-edge lately..." he stated thoughtfully, more to himself than at the other boy. Kyle took this as an opportunity to change the subject.

"Do your parents know you're here yet? Have you called them or something?"

"You sound like your mother," he said with a sarcastic frown, "but no, they don't. Karen does, though."

"Maybe you should call them now?"

"Mrs Kyle Broflovski, I don't think they'll be awake yet anyway so they won't even realize I'm gone."

Kyle punched Kenny's arm playfully, "I'm just trying to make sure you don't get into more trouble than you're already going to be in for missing school."

"If my parents gave a rat's ass about school they would have done something about their own in the first place."

"But you're smarter than they are; you can make something of yourself unlike them-" he hesitated as he realized what he had just said, "No offence, dude, I just mean-"

"You think after years of 'stupid and poor' jokes from Cartman I'd find a truth like that offensive?" Kenny joked.

"Well you know... Just in case." He sighed and leaned back in his bed, "I wonder where the fat boy's gone anyway..."

"Aww, do you miss him, Kyle,? No wait, _Kaaahl_?" Kenny laughed as he took out his phone to check if he'd had a call or text from Cartman, but he didn't.

"Shut up, dude! Don't you start calling me Kahl too, _KINNY_!"

"Okay, okay! God, that boy needs to learn how to pronounce names..."

"He knows how to, he just chooses not to because he's an asshole!"

"But you still put up with him, though."

"Well so do you..."

"But he messes with you more than me; always has, probably always will."

"Well that's a great thought to make me feel more positive about my future..." Kyle said sarcastically.

"You know you love it when you fight."

"I do," he didn't realise what he said before it had slipped out of his mouth, "I mean like, urm..."

"Haha, you don't have to explain it dude. It's your 'thing', I guess it's just the only way two stubborn people can communicate together," the boy flinched away from Kyle, expecting to be punched again, but instead was greeted by a thoughtful look on the redhead's face.

"Hmm... maybe..." He'd never really thought about it.

"He really does care about you, though."

"Hmm?" He was still thinking about the blonde's previous comment.

"When he heard you were in the hospital he didn't even explain to me what was going on at first, he just told me to get in the car and he sped over here. He was genuinely worried for you," Kenny was looking equally contemplative.

"How did you two find out anyway?"

"Well _eventually_, he told me that his mom called him to ask if he was hurt too, and he didn't know what she was talking about until she said she had heard your mom ranting outside her house that you were in the hospital. When she said that he just told his mom he was fine, hung up on her and he text you straight after whilst telling me to get in the car. All he told me was 'It's Kyle.' You didn't reply after a minute so he just started the car and I tried to call you and then whilst driving he nearly killed about 10 people on the way here himself," the boy had to take a deep breath after enlightening the other on what had happened.

"Wow, seems a bit out of character. I guess that's...nice?"

"Well, that's because he cares about you."

"He said it was because of Stan, though. He hates Stan too..."

"He didn't know Stan was involved at first. Well he might have had an idea because we did see Stan, but he didn't care about the fact he was crying on the street and just drove past him. And that was way before we heard about you."

"Oh. Well... that's nice that he cares I guess..."

"And you care about him too."

Kyle sighed, "Well, we've all been friends since kindergarten, the four of us together. It's never been any different than that, so if I didn't like one of you I assure you I wouldn't hang out with any of you anymore. But as it's been so many years, I guess, yes I do like you. Even him. But don't tell him I said that...!"

"I won't don't worry, it can be our little secret," he said with his familiar con-man grin returning to his face, to which Kyle face-palmed in response.

"Can you open the curtains a little?" Kyle said changing topics again.

"Sure," he got on his feet and dragged his feet over to the window. As he started to pull it open, both boys were hit by a blinding ray of light from outside, but he continued to open it so they could let their eyes adjust to the beams trickling into the monotonous looking room, "Wow, it looks a lot better with them open..." Kenny contemplated as he made his way back to his seat.

"Yeah it does..." once again the boys fell into peaceful silence, admiring the way the room looked so much more optimistic now than it had before and they both smiled to themselves as they got lost in their thoughts again.

They didn't get much time to stop and relax when they were at home; they were always doing work or dealing with other kinds of problems and so it was really nice to just loosen up and unwind and pretend that there was nothing wrong, or at least that it didn't affect them at that moment.

"Hey, bitches," Cartman arrived into the room, carrying three large bags and a jug of water in his hands. He dropped the bags on the floor carefully and glanced at the boys sitting in front of him, "I went home."

"Right..."

Cartman then started unpacking the bags after placing the water on the table at the side of the room. He carefully took some cups out of one of them, poured some water into one of them and gave it to Kyle, "Drink it."

"What?"

"Don't look so scared, it's just water, you look like you need some. Drink it."

Kenny raised his eyebrow at Kyle in an 'I-told-you-so' way, referring back to his conversation about the fat boy caring for him really. The redhead ignored this glance and turned back to Cartman who had pushed the cup into his hands. "Urm... thanks, Cartman."

Instead of responding, he just nodded his head at him and went back to unpacking his bags. One of them contained his Xbox and its various controllers which he went to go and plug into the television in the corner of the room, whilst the other was shoved into Kenny's lap and contained tonnes of games of all different kinds; driving games, shooting games, music games, anything you could think of was probably in that bag.

"Choose one."

"K."

Cartman then went on to fiddle with the TV, Kenny shuffled through the never ending sea of games and Kyle sat and sipped obediently at his water.

Kenny looked over at Kyle and chuckled lightly. The other boy returned his glance and laughed nervously in return, not really understanding the joke. The blonde realised Kyle's hesitance and decided to explain by saying, "You're really cute when you're not so tense all the time. You're just, like, chill. It's totally cute."

"What?" This confused him even more as he blushed slightly.

"Cartman, isn't Kyle really cute?"

The larger boy who was rummaging through the bag next to him wasn't paying much attention and so assuming Kenny had just chosen a game to play just mumbled, "Yeah," and continued to set up the console.

Kyle looked shocked at this revelation, not sure how to respond, however before he had a chance to he was bombarded by a tight hug from Kenny; his arms wrapping around his still sore and bruised skin. At first he squirmed to try to get out of his grasp but all this did was make the other boy pull him tighter and so he eventually just relaxed into and let the boy hold him gently.

Just as he was about to pull away, Kenny whispered, "See I told you he cares about you really," with a smug grin on his face.

"Firstly, he doesn't even know what he agreed to, and secondly what the hell was this for?" he nodded towards Kenny's arms which were still lingering on his shoulders.

Cartman turned around as he finished connecting the Xbox to the old TV in the corner of the room and looked disgustedly at the two boys, "Don't tell me you're gonna gay out on me right now..." and then mumbled something about that being 'Stan's job' under his breath. "Where's the game?"

"What game?"

"The one you picked to play."

"I haven't picked yet."

"Then what were you asking me about before?" Cartman said in annoyance and confusion, placing one controller on Kyle's lap and practically throwing the other at Kenny and grabbing the bag full of games.

"I asked if you thought that Kyle was cute. And you said yeah."

Cartman stopped in his tracks and looked more shocked than anything else, "W-what? I did not say that Jew rat was cute."

"You did."

"Well it doesn't count, I didn't' know what you said."

"Well, do you think he's cute? He looks like an adorable little panda with all those bruises."

Just as he had started to say this, Kyle had taken a sip of water again and nearly choked on it by the end of the sentence.

"You're messed up, Kinny."

"I'm offering emotional support. When my sister's sick I give her hugs and tell her she's cute and she feels way better afterwards."

"So you're comparing me to your _sister_?... Well that makes me feel _so _much better..." he face palmed and gestured towards Cartman to pass him the bag of games, "Let me choose, fat ass."

"Yeah, you remind me a lot of my sister actually, it's funny. You're both really girly, and you both can't live without me," he laughed to himself.

Kyle ignored this comment and went back to looking at Cartman.

"No way Jew, you'll end up making us play something gay."

"Well to choose something gay, you'd have to own a gay game to start with so..." he smiled smugly at the other boy who sighed, but gave him the bag never the less.

He then proceeded to make his way over to the last bag that had been left on the floor; the one they had retrieved the cups from. It seemed pretty full, but it's contents were unbeknownst to Kenny and Kyle.

As Kenny was given a game to go and put into the Xbox, Kyle peered over at Cartman curiously, waiting to see what he was going to take out of this last bag. To his pleasant surprise, he watched as the fat boy pulled out all sorts of sweets and treats from the bag that seemed to be never ending. The boy poured out two regular sodas for himself and Kenny and some sugar-free soda for the diabetic Kyle and handed it to them. And just as the two other boys were convinced the now scattered over the floor contents of the bag were finished, he pulled out a giant multi bag of cheesy poofs.

"Wow." Kyle and Kenny spoke in unison.

"Well I didn't want to starve in here. You might be used to it Kinny, but not me." he said with a smirk.  
The boys arranged themselves in a row on the floor of the room, surrounded by snacks and sitting on various cushions and pillows whilst they mashed at the buttons on the controllers at the screen in front of them.

"Prepare for failure, boys,"

"Where are you, you sneaky Jew..."

"Your ass is mine!"

"Take that fat boy!"

"No! Goddamnit!"

"Oh my God, I'm lost, how do you get out of this bit..."

"Yessss! I beat you losers!"

"Shit, I crashed my car!"

"Get Kinny!"

"KO!"

The game play went on for hours. They would change game often, having the ability to get easily bored of a game they had been only playing for a short amount of time. Once in a while a member of staff would walk in and ask if the boys were alright and they would grumble a 'yeah' at them before returning to the tense moments that were on the screen. At one point Kyle had to be checked over by the nurses for the nurse but like the impatient and stubborn person he was, he squirmed and fidgeted in annoyance whilst craning his neck to watch Kenny and Cartman beat the crap out of each other on screen. It made the boy squirm even more as he remembered back to the day before and how Stan had attacked him, but he quickly tried to suppress these memories for the time being and as soon as he was able he jumped back onto the pillows and lost himself in the games.

"You are such a fucking cheater!"

"Pure skill, dude."

"I'm gonna get you for that Kahl!"

"Your character looks like a douche,"

"Suck my balls!"

"Damn, you lost to the computer you noob!"

"Get out of my way!"

"Pass me the ball, Kinny!"

"That riff was awesome!"

After a long time of playing, the boys were interrupted mid-game by a large man and two smaller ones tagging behind him.

"Kyle Broflovski, we're here to ask you a few questions."

**A/N: This chapter is mainly showing the growing friendships between Kyle, Cartman and Kenny especially without Stan around, and Kenny trying to convince the other two that they are actually are good friends.I've had lots of ideas of how to continue this story, but I want to start adding some romance elements in soon after the next part of the story but I'm not sure about who to pair with. I started the story wanting to focus on Kyle and Stan's friendship and Stendy with Kyle with somebody else, but I didn't want it to be an OC and I wasn't sure if it should be slash or not. I've tried to drop subtle hints that could make it swing in any direction but have some background, though I doubt if it will end up like Kyman or something, (I doubt I could do it justice X_X) so sorry if any of that was awkward or just annoying to read. Thanks anyway, and please review x**


	6. Crimson Showers

"M-me?"

"Well you are Kyle Broflovski aren't you?" The tallest man stepped towards where the teenagers were sitting. He looked at Kyle and studied his cuts and bruises, knowing exactly who he was as he made his way into the room.

"Well y-yes, but what do you want to ask me?"

"Can we talk to you alone?" He eyed up the other two boys and looked back at Kyle.

"What have you got to say that you can't say in front of me and Kinny?"

"We just want to question him on yesterday's events. We're with the Park County police." He flashed his badge at the them and then flipped it closed again and pushed it into his pocket, "Can you two step out of the room for a few minutes?"

"You called the cops on him?" Cartman completely ignored the request and turned to look at Kyle wide eyed.

"N-no! How do you know something happened?"

"We-"

"I bet it was your bitch of a mother..."

"Shut your fucking mouth Cartman!"

"Boys, boys! Calm down! We were informed that something had happened by somebody who was not his mother. Now could you two step out for a moment?"

"I want to hear what happened!"

"Get out fat ass!" Kenny dragged the larger boy out of the room by the scruff of his collar. Although Cartman was pretty tall for his age, the blonde was the tallest of the four boys, towering over the others by nearly a head which meant that he had an advantage against the other boy's brute strength. Stan was tall as well as being muscular from his various sporting activities and so the only boy hadn't grown much over the years was Kyle. He was one of the smallest people of their age, but this didn't stop him from being someone that anybody with a working brain would choose not to pick a fight with. It was common knowledge that Kyle had a fiery temper; he would become quickly raged and his hands would ball into fists whilst his emerald eyes would flicker in anger if somebody stepped just slightly out of line. He was fast and agile; he would get the first few punches in before the other person had even realised what was happening. He had learnt to control his anger over the years; however it was still hidden beneath the surface just buried in a chest that was kept under strict lock and key by his brain's orders. It could very easily be opened at any moment though; it just needed to be given the word.

Kyle felt this anger burning inside of him at this moment. He was having an amazing time with his friends and suddenly some random guys he hadn't seen before just waltz on in and break it all up. All his suppressed memories from the day before came flooding back to him. He thought of the first impact Stan's fist had with his small, fragile body and the sound of Wendy's screams being heard from behind him, her nimble hands pushing the two boys apart and telling Stan to 'have some self control'. He remembered seeing Stan's eyes; the irises seemed dead with only a small glint of life behind them and the rest bloodshot from drinking, crying or both. He remembered making a comment to the boy and then he didn't remember. He didn't remember anything after that last punch, just that everything went black and then he woke up in a drab hospital room. If anything, he was angry that he had chosen not to fight back. Sure, Stan was his best friend, but why should that stop him from defending himself when he wasn't the one to make the first move?  
He felt his fingers twitch by his sides as all these thoughts came rushing into his head, fighting to be in the forefront of his thoughts and not seeming to slow down at any time soon. He tried to resist his urges to shout at the intruders for making him feel that way and succeeded in calming himself down a bit, but he knew it was only a matter of time before he completely snapped and so he continued to breath slowly and gently as the man in front of him took another step towards him.

"What do you want?"

"Can you explain to us what exactly happened between Stan Marsh and yourself yesterday afternoon?"

Kyle twitched. He then breathed in deeply and said, "I can, but why should I tell you?"

"Well we're here to help you get justice, so-"

"Justice? What if I don't want justice?"

"Well we were under the impression that you did; we were told you wanted to give a statement." Both the officer and the teenager looked at each other with a confused look on their face.

"What? When did I say that? I didn't say that." Kyle was angry, but he didn't want to get Stan arrested for what he had done. That would make him hate him forever, and would make sure that he couldn't fulfil his promise to help him sort himself out.

"We were informed by Wendy Testaburger that you agreed to make a statement along with her. We took hers earlier and so now we need yours so we can piece a full report together." Kyle swore under his breath. Wendy had some explaining to do.

"We need to hurry up, sir," One of the lackeys behind him looked anxious to leave, constantly looking down at his watch and up at the wall clock, whilst the other stood admiring the view out of the window and not being at all part of the current conversation.

"Well we need the statement."

"What if I refuse to give one?"

"It'll be considered as withholding information and you wouldn't have much of a case."

"Fine, I refuse."

"Are you sure? We can make sure he gets what he deserves."

"I'm sure."

"Are you sure that he hasn't threatened you in some way to get you not to tell us?"

"I'm fu-" Kyle was getting increasingly frustrated. "I'm sure."

"Well you should know that if you choose to not give your statement now, it will adversely affect any future statements you make in regards to this case."

"OK!"

"We should go..." The first of the lower-ranked officers piped up once again from behind and looked restlessly at the door.

The main officer sighed loudly and turned to face Kyle, "He's terrified by hospitals and," he looked towards the other officer who was still fixated on the window, "He's just an idiot. Goodbye Mr Broflovski, thank you for your time."

The boy watched them walk out of the door and slump onto his bed in exasperation. He knew that Kenny and Cartman were going to spring back in the room at any second soon and dreaded the thought of them continuing to ask him questions about what happened then and the night before.

He felt himself rise again and just as the two other teens entered the room he allowed his legs to drag him into the adjoining bathroom and lock himself inside. He fell backwards onto the door and let out a sigh as he grabbed at his hat and pulled the flaps down to his chin, in a miserable attempt to hide himself away and ignore everything that was going on around him.

He walked over to the other side of the room and stopped in front of the small porcelain sink. It was decorated with little fragments of assorted soaps that had been used down to the smallest it could be and just left there with the others. It also had a mirror suspended above it; long and wide but dirty with fingerprints and other various marks adorning it. Kyle wet a tissue and wiped at it carefully so he could see his reflection gawking back at him.

He didn't know how to react. He had seen his arms and his chest that was embellished with multicoloured bruises, but as he usually had a jacket on he decided it wasn't that big of a deal; no one would see them and they would heal soon enough, but as he saw his face in the mirror, he watched in horror as he saw brash bruises decorated over his cheek bones and around his left eye. He had felt his face being a bit sore earlier in the day, but his whole body was aching so he hadn't taken the time to wonder what he had looked like. He was speechless for a few moments, but then burst out, 'SHIT! DAMNIT!" whilst proceeding to punch at the wall furiously.

"Kahl? What's going on?" he knocked on the door hastily, after realising that the door was locked and he couldn't open it.

"Kyle! Open the door!" he sounded scared and knocked on the wall next the door, the loud thumping sounds echoing throughout both rooms.

The redhead ignored their pleas from outside the door and continued pummelling the wall in fury, seething at the events that had occurred over the last 48 hours. All the thoughts came rushing through his head once more causing him to scream louder and make the two other boys outside get more fearful for their friend's safety. He didn't actually know why he was so angry. He should have assumed that his face had been pummelled just as much as his body had. Maybe he was just angry at himself. He thought about it more and came to the conclusion that that was probably it and so continued stabbing at the wall.

"Kahl, stop it! Are you _punching_ at the wall? You're going the break your fucking fists!"

"I don't care!"

"Don't be an idiot Kyle! Please just open the door!"

"No! No, no, no, no, no..." Kyle shouted but gradually slowed down the frequency of his jabs and eventually came to halt.

"Kyle? Kyle are you alright?"

There was silence for a few minutes, but not the same peaceful silence that they had experienced before; instead it was an extremely tense and uncomfortable one and caused Cartman to get increasingly agitated on the other side of the door.

"Kahl? What are you doing? God damnit you stupid Jew, answer me!"

"I'm standing... by the door..." he responded trying to regain his lost breath.

"Open it then!"

"I-I don't... I don't know if I can..."

"What? Why not?"

"M-my fists... I can't grip the door handle... I can't unlock it..."

"You know what? I'm just going to ram it down..." Cartman mumbled. He then launched his large self towards the door and stumbled onto the ground as he heard the hinges in the door crack slightly. He got back to his feet and tried again, this time succeeding in his attempt and causing the door to fly open, but somehow still attached to the wall, revealing Kyle standing staring back at them both. He clutched at his own hands, blood dripping off of them slowly onto the tiled floor. His eyes were still sore from crying and his bruised face was flushed as scarlet as his hands were.

"Kyle..." Kenny stepped forward and grabbed at the boys throbbing hands. He dragged him towards the sink once again and started running the water onto them.

Kyle winced slightly as he felt the water gush onto his hands and wash the crimson liquid down the drain. He felt his knuckles tingle as he flexed his fingers back and forth. When the blood had stopped dripping from his knuckles he watched Kenny grab some tissue and push it into his hands and he dabbed at them gingerly trying not to grimace as he felt it stinging.

"Should I get the nurse?"

"No! Don't get them. I can sort it..." he continued to prod at his knuckles with the tissue.

"You are such a dumbass Kahl..." Cartman stood at the side of the room, regaining his breath after falling to the floor a second time.

"I know... He just... They just... Got to me..." he sighed as he weaved his way past them both and slumped himself down onto the pillows that were sprawled across the floor.

"Why are you letting them get to you then? You normally never let anyone get to you; you're usually the most level-headed person I know!"

"Kenny, I..." he lifted his head up at the two teenagers who came and sat down next to him, "For my entire life, I've tried to be the voice of reason; I've tried to make sure that I learn something from every situation and better myself and the people around me so that I can make sure that bad things stop happening as often. But no matter how hard I try, people carry on doing stupid things and it's never going to stop. I can't even help best friend to sort out his problems and so all of my hard work in trying to make South Park better just seems to be for no reason."

"Kyle, it's not your job to solve everybody's problems-"

"It's not my job, but I feel like I have a sort of duty to help the people I care about, now I've realised I don't think I _can_ help Stan. He needs more than me... I'm not good enough to help him. He deserves better than me and he knows it."

"What? Stop being such a soppy asshole and just calm down!" Cartman dropped onto his knees and grabbed Kyle's arms loosely to avoid further hurting him and shook him.

"But I-"

"You don't need that stupid Hippie! You have Kinny and me and loads of other friends so why does it mean that much to you!"

"Because I failed!"

"No you didn't! There was nothing to fail at! Stan can sort himself out; he doesn't need you to sort things out for him! He has no excuse for being a dick to you, so stop defending that sonovabitch!"

"Cartman calm down!" Kenny grabbed at the other boy and dragged him from clutching Kyle who had started sobbing to himself.

"It's just too much for me to handle..."

"Well you don't need to handle it Kahl! Just let it go!"

"Well...How could I...? I can't just... let it go..."

"Yes you can, why couldn't you?"

"Because it's not just something you can stop yourself from thinking. Unlike you I'm not a self-centred asshole! I can't just _stop_caring about the people around me!"

"Guys, guys, calm the fuck down!" Kenny jumped down and sat between where the other two teens were sitting, pushing two controllers into their hands, "Come on, let's carry on playing, and get your anger out in that way."

"Fine." They grumbled in unison.

They all sat silently as they stared at the television screen in front of them as shot at passing virtual zombies.

"This is fun... right guys?" the blonde looked towards the two apathetic faces to the sides of him after they had been playing the game for a substantial amount of time.

They were no longer angry but due to the lack of sleep and their earlier outbursts of emotion, all three of the boys had resorted to a state of indifference towards the events of the day.

"Sure..."

"No not really, you poor piece of crap. You both suck at this game."

"Then what do you want to do instead?"

"Well there isn't much else to do in here is there really..."

"Then leave?" Kyle spoke slowly, not tearing his stare away from the screen.

"You want us to leave?" Cartman sounded slightly annoyed but with a hint of sadness.

"N-no, I just don't want you both to think you have to stay here. I mean, you probably have much better things to do."

"Probably," Cartman scoffed.

"No you wouldn't," Kenny sniggered back at him, "All you'd do is go home and carry on playing on your Xbox on your own whilst stuffing yourself with more junk food."

"Oh yeah? Well... You'd just go back to your poor house with your poor food. So yeah... suck on that."

"Ouch, ya got me," he shook his head in jest at the other boy's lacklustre response, "So I guess we're not going anywhere any time soon then."

"Yeah, I guess we're not."

"Oh," Kyle spoke gently, "Are you going back to school?"

"Hell no; you need us here."

"No I don't."

"Kahl, you need us here." Cartman raised one eyebrow towards the boy who was mashing away at his controller.

"You just want an excuse to stay out of school fat-ass," He sighed lightly, not really caring either way anymore.

"Damn straight."

"Fine, whatever. But are you going to go home and then come back? You can't really stay here two nights in a row."

"To be honest, it's nicer in here than in my own house."

"That's what you get for being a poor piece of shit, Kinny." Cartman snorted.

"Not for long though. As soon as I leave school I'm getting a good job and living in a proper house and I'm actually going to make something of myself, you'll see," Kenny chuckled to himself as he went over his plans for the future.

"Does your mom know you're here Cartman?"

"Are you really going on about that again Kyle?" the tallest boy stretched out his arms in a yawn. Without realising it, the day had passed the boys by very quickly and it was already starting to get dark.

"You sound like your goddamn mother Kahl."

"I said that too,"

"But yeah she does. When I went home this morning I told her I was coming here and I didn't know when I'd be back."

"So she was fine with you just ditching school?"

"She was off her face. I could have told her I was about to kill myself and she'd probably just giggle and tell me to enjoy myself like she did when I told her about this." he laughed half-heartedly with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Oh... So are you not going home tonight then?"

"I might. To get clothes and stuff. And some more food. And to check my mother hasn't accidentally killed herself yet. Ya know, just the normal stuff." his voice sounded choked with the tone of bitterness increasing.

"Right..." he didn't know the appropriate response to this statement. Something inside him told him that he was meant to make a remark about his friend's mother being a crack whore, but he really just wanted to go over and hug the larger boy and apologise to him for something that he wasn't quite sure of. He was just another person Kyle had failed to help.

"Where is your mom anyway, Kyle?"

"What?"

"Your parents left this morning with Ike and they haven't come back since." Kenny looked around the room in wonder as if to expect that Mr and Mrs Broflovski would materialise out of thin air at the mentioning of their names.

"I'm not sure... Did they say anything as they left?"

"Well I remember Ike saying he'd get rid of them but he didn't say how."

"He's a crafty little kid; he's probably got them on some wild goose chase or something to keep them out of the way." Kyle spoke as he grabbed his phone out of his pocket to start dialling Ike's number.

"Well whilst you sort that I guess I'll go get my stuff. Come on Kinny, we'll see if there's anything worth getting for you," Cartman spoke rising from his position on the floor, "Kahl, you want anything?"

Kyle looked up with an uninterested look on his face, "Um, I don't know," he looked down at himself, "I guess I could do with some clothes... But you're not going in my room unsupervised anyway," he raised an eyebrow slightly as the fat-ass gave an evil grin in the redheads direction.

"Ok, ok, we'll be back soon then," and with that the two boys exited the room, Kenny turning back to wave at the boy who just shook his head at him as the blonde turned back around and left laughing to himself.

It wasn't until then that he saw he had quite a lot of missed calls from Wendy but although he knew he really shouldn't have called her back at that moment, he was still pissed at her and so ignored them and carried on typing in the number of his little brother.

"Ike? Dude, where are you guys? I thought mom would have came back to drive us mad by now."

"Oh my God, you'll never guess what happened to us,"

**A/N: Not many reviews I've tried to add some more drama into it so I hope those who are reading it are enjoying it xxx**


	7. Big Brother, Little Brother

"Jacob basically trashed our house, dude."

"No way, man, seriously?"

"Yeah. I got home and he was jumping around on the tables and stuff and there were loads of things broken up all over the floor. Plus he had raided the fridge and so there was soda split over everything too. Like everything."

"How did he even get in?"

"I guess when we rushed over here yesterday we left the door unlocked and his mom probably just dumped him here and left."

"Woah… When did you find out?"

"Well when we left they dropped me at home to get my school things but mom went to the store for some stuff because she said she was going to spend the day with you so before I could stop them they carried on and drove off. I went inside and I saw it and I was just like 'Fuck.'" The Canadian chuckled to himself at the memory,

Jacob Harris was an annoying and troublesome kindergartener that Kyle and Ike had been given the duty of looking after in the mornings before school started. It was Kyle's job to watch him and make sure he was ready for school and Ike's to bring him there and back to his own home at the end of the day. His mother was a single parent whose job started early in the morning and who had no other family in the area so Mrs. Broflovski had kindly volunteered her sons for the positions of babysitters (without asking them if they wanted to, of course) as a way of teaching them about responsibility.

"So then I wondered if I should call them, but I decided to just make sure that Jacob and I got to school and then I called mom as we got there and she got home and called me going crazy and shouting loads of crap and then the phone went dead. Who knows what she did after that. The house looks cleaner now, but there's still stains and stuff in the carpet."

Ike went on to graphically describe the state of the house and then talk about what he had just generally done in that day. Kyle told his brother all about his gaming marathon and his run-in with the police, although he left out the part about his 'mental breakdown' and after about ten or fifteen minutes of the two boys talking Kyle could hear a high-pitched scream of exasperation coming from his mother slamming the door as she entered her home. Both boys groaned loudly and Ike swiveled round in his seat to look at his mom pacing back and forth through the room her face flustered red as her hair.

"That woman is dreadful! All I did was _politely_ ask her to pay the money to replace the things he had broken and she went _completely_ berserk! Can you believe that? We _won't_ be looking after that boy again, that's for sure! Where's your father, Ike? He needs to hear about this! We _will_ get our money back; she has not heard the last of us!" she continued to rave about what had happened whilst Ike just sat and nodded at her and Kyle listened to the goings-on silently on the other side of the phone. They both assumed she hadn't gone over there and spoken 'politely' and so didn't feel that much sympathy to her.

"Oh my Bubbulah! I left him alone at the hospital all day! Oh my, he must be missing his mother so much, he needs me there with him!"

"Wait, what?" the brothers said in unison, although only the Canadian's could be heard by Mrs. Broflovski.

"I need to go back to him, I completely forgot with all this commotion going on!"

"No! Ike stop her!"

"Urm… Mom? I don't think he wants you to go down there."

"What, why?"

"Dude, make it subtle!"

"I… Urh… I just think he needs his rest,"

Their mother hadn't taken the time to realize that Ike had a phone rested against the side of his face and that he was having a conversation with Kyle at that moment.

"He could have rested all day,"

"No… He was being checked by the doctors and stuff."

"Well he needs clothes and things, oh my baby!"

"Ike? What is she saying?"

"She wants to bring you some clothes?"

"No tell her its fine!"

"Well you do need some though don't you, so why don't you just let her and pretend you're asleep so she leaves?"

"Because one, she wouldn't leave, she would just try and wake me up, two, I actually am a bit tired so I don't really want her hear lecturing me on Ms. Harris and what happened and three, the guys are gonna be here so I don't want her scaring them off or her and Cartman getting in some kind of argument about whether they should be here."

"They're still there? Wow."

"No, they're not here now, but they said they're coming back. I wouldn't believe that Cartman was coming back if he hadn't left his Xbox stuff here."

"So he actually trusts you with his Xbox?"

Kyle stopped and thought about it, "Well he knows I can't go anywhere so I can't leave with it and I'm not that much of an idiot that I would break my only source of entertainment in this place. Plus I don't think he actually thought about it to be honest, he must be getting soft, dude."

The two boys laughed and fell into silence. They both realized that they hadn't heard their mother's bellowing voice in quite a while. As if they were reading each other's minds they both spoke in harmony, "Where the fuck has she gone?"

"Ike!"

"Dude, she just called me, one sec."

"Yeah, mom?"

"Call your father and tell him to hurry home so he can drive us to the hospital, there's a good little boy," she then scurried off up the stairs and she could be heard rummaging around in Kyle's room.

"She just went into your room; I don't think I can stop her from coming to the hospital."

"Damn it!"

"Haha, shame on you," Ike sniggered at his older brother who on the other end of the phone was thinking of more excuses to get her to stay there.

"Maybe if I tell her myself that I want to sleep she won't come?"

"I guess it's worth a shot,"

"Give her the phone then,"

Ike obediently hopped up the stairs and across the hall to Kyle's immaculate room. It was always clean and tidy, in fear that his mother would harass him if one sock was out of place. His bed was spread tidily, his posters at perfect 90o angles on the walls, his books piled carefully on his bookshelf. Ike was rarely allowed in there so he took his time in absorbing his surroundings and appreciating the moment.

"Ike? Are you there?"

"Oh sorry," he handed the phone gingerly to his mother, "It's Kyle."

"What? Kyle? Why is he calling?"

"Mom?" The teenager put on the best hoarse and sleepy voice he could possibly muster.

"Kyle? Are you alright? I'm so sorry I left you-"

"It's fine. Just… Ike said you were going to come down now and it's pretty dark so could you maybe not come?"

"But-"

"I'm really tired, I haven't had any sleep all day and I'm pretty stressed out with all that's happened"

This wasn't a lie, so Kyle had no trouble in pleading this case to his overprotective mother. Every time Sheila tried to convince him she should come he found a fitting and true reason why it was a bad idea, so he didn't feel guilty when she sighed and eventually gave up.

"Well you have definitely got my tenacity, Kyle. I'm so proud of you Bubbulah, being so grown up and looking out for yourself and your well being. Don't worry I'll make sure nobody else does this to you ever again!" the teen groaned as she continued to dote over him.

Ike was still exploring his brother's room, being careful not to touch anything in there so that when Kyle got home he had a fair chance of being let off for being in there in the first place. This was the plan until he saw something that piqued his interest. He turned his head and saw his mother mid speech and decided he had time to have a quick peek at the small book that was stuffed into the back of the book case. It was green and as the boy picked it up he felt it was quite heavy, with pieces of paper sticking out of it and a picture of Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny all standing next to each other at their usual bus stop, all of them smiling, even Cartman, aged about ten, stuck on the cover.

He cautiously opened it, making sure nothing was going to fall out of it. As he turned the pages inquisitively he saw pictures of the four boys over the years. He grimaced at a few that included himself and continued to flip the pages. There were lots of photos and quite a few hand drawn sketches, most likely done by Kenny (who was surprisingly discovered as being very good at art as well).

He slowly traced his fingers over the familiar landmarks in the backs of the photos. He took a lot of time to analyze each picture; who was in it, what they were feeling, where they were, when it was. It brought back memories for him, and he wasn't even related to a lot of them, although he had had taken a reasonable amount of them.

His favorite picture of the book was probably the one on the inside front cover. It had Kyle and Stan cheerily standing together, their arms hooked over the other's shoulder. On the ground in front of them was Cartman scowling over at Kenny who was attempting to do the same thing with him and was laughing his head off. They were next of the South Park sign with the whole town standing up tall behind them. Ike had been with them that day and had taken that photo and reminisced about the adventures of the day, with Kyle asking if they could take the photo to put in a book he wanted to make of memories. He remembered Cartman casually calling him a 'fag' but going along with it anyway and Kenny bounding around next to them. They were pretty young, but as he observed the photograph he felt like it was only yesterday. He concentrated on the look in Kyle's eyes. He looked really happy. He looked like everything was how it was meant to be. He shifted his gaze over to Stan who looked happy too, looking happier than he could ever remember him looking, but there was still something odd about it to him. Maybe it was just the thoughts of what had happened clouding his judgment, or just that he had forgotten what a smile from Stan Marsh actually looked like.

Ike sighed quietly and neatly the book to the way it had looked when he first picked it up and placed it back to where he found it. He turned back around and saw his mother still on the phone, but now sitting on top of Kyle's now wrinkled bed.

"Mom, can I have my phone back?" he mumbled at her.

"I'm talking to your brother, Bubbe"

"But Kyle doesn't even want to talk to you…" he mumbled under his breath.

He shuffled back around the room looking in every nook and cranny he could. He looked at each shoe that graced the corner of the room in neat two-by-twos and the collection on boxes stacked high and orderly in the other side.

"Damn, this boy is tidy…"

He strolled out of the room and sauntered over to his own room. He pushed open the door and stared at the mess of books and crayons that cluttered his desk, the pile of shoes that were at the bottom of his open closet and the muddle of toys shoved under his unmade bed.

He had been shouted at on several occasions to clean it up by his parents, but eventually they had given up as every time he did it seemed to explode into another mess and so it seemed pointless. Kyle had noticed this but still didn't dare to lie anything out of place. By now he was just used to being tidy and so it was more of just a habit than anything else actually.

Ike sat down on his desk chair and swung around slowly and started contemplating what had happened and if there was anything he could do to help. He thought about Jacob. He was a brat, but he was actually a pretty cool guy. Most things that came out of his mouth were either curses or just really retarded and so it normally left Kyle and Ike in stitches when they tried to talk to him. They normally ended up just messing around and having fun before having to bring themselves to school, much to their mother's dismay, although most of the time she didn't know what they were doing as she chose to 'avoid' them so that 'they could face their responsibilities without having her to fall back on' however it was more likely that she just wanted to know that they'd be forced to be awake and ready for school without her having to leave her bed.

Being the super-genius that he was, he quickly became bored as he couldn't come up with an answer and started scribbling away at a piece of paper. He may have been smart, but he was one of the worst drawers in the world. Despite this, he started to draw a figure of Kyle as precisely as possible with one of himself next to him. He carefully crayoned a green hat for his brother and a small black tuft of hair on him. He sketched out their bodies slowly; making sure the lines weren't too wobbly and that they were colored in fully. His tongue stuck out of the side of his mouth in concentration as he furrowed his brow and bent over the paper as his hand darted over the paper. He shaded in the sky and drew a large sun in the middle with a line of green underneath them. He scrambled around looking for his rarely used white crayon and started dotting the grass with patches of white snow. Once he was done, he lifted it up and gazed at it with outstretched arms. It hadn't taken him very long to do, but he considered it to be one of the best drawings he had ever done. Now he just had to get it to his brother.

"MOM!" he jumped off of his chair and ran back to Kyle's room where his mother was still ranting and lecturing his brother down the phone.

"Yes, Bubbe?" She looked slightly annoyed at the interruption, but Ike could swear that he heard a loud sigh of relief coming from the other end of the phone.

"Can I have my phone back now? I want to talk to Kyle."

"What do you want him for? You can talk to him later, I still have more to say to him, we're in the middle of a conversation."

There was another audible sigh from the redhead from the phone, although their mother seemed to be unaware of it and continued to look at Ike with her eyebrow arched at him.

"He's my brother; I want to talk to him, because I'm, urm, scared." He quirked his own eyebrow but then pulled on his best cutesy face for his mother, "Yeah, I'm so scared that he's so hurt, I just want to talk to him and for him to… to offer me some emotional support. I don't want to not learn anything from this experience and grow up and have the same thing happen to me, right?"

He watched his mother's face change from looking annoyed at first and then to skeptical and then to genuinely concerned. It took all the self control he had to not burst out laughing right there.

"Oh you're right, I should make sure you have a positive thing to remember when you look back on this when you're Kyle's age. Oh my smart little boy, I've raised you boys both so well-"

"Right, so can I have the phone now?" Ike cringed as his mother tugged at his cheek and cut her off before she could start gushing over him again.

His mother placed the phone in his palm and gave him a beaming smile before retreating out of the room, before turning back and saying, "Make sure you bring it back to me when you are finished, though, I'm sure Kyle will want to know the ending to what I was telling him."

"Um, yeah sure, I think he finds your stories really interesting. In fact, he was just telling me the other day he wishes you told him more-"

"DUDE! What the fuck are you telling her? Now she's gonna want to preach at me every day with her whiny little stories!" Kyle realized that it was now Ike who was in possession of the phone and was horrified by what he was hearing.

Ike heard this and started laughing his ass off at the anger he could hear in his brother's voice, "Hahahaha, calm down man!"

"No, you just totally screwed me over asshole!" Kyle huffed.

"Whatever, you're the one that sounds like a whiner right now!"

"I have good reason to! What did you want anyway? That speech about emotional support was bullshit."

"Nothing."

"Then why did you take the phone?"

"Dunno."

"What the hell?"

"Well do you want me to give it her back? Because I know you love her stories, don't you big bro?" He asked sarcastically.

"Ok, fine, what were you doing when she took the phone then? Finding something hockey related to do you stereotypical Canadian?"

"Nah, I was drawing."

"Really? I thought you hated drawing?"

"I don't hate it, I just suck at it."

"Oh. So why were you drawing then?"

"Cuz I drew you a picture," Ike said nonchalantly, going back to his room and sitting back at his desk where the picture lay in front of him.

Kyle snickered on the other side of the phone, "Really?"

"Yeah. Why is that funny?"

"It's just… not like you. But I guess that's cute, thanks," Kyle smiled at the thought.

"Don't call me cute!"

"I didn't, I said the idea was cute," he laughed again at his brother's tone. The younger boy hated it when people insisted on calling him or anything relating to him cute.

"Well don't!" He sulked.

"Ok, ok, whatever. So what's it of?"

Ike went on to describe his masterpiece in immense detail, analyzing each section of it and telling his brother what it was like. After he was certain he had nothing else to talk about he stopped to hear Kyle's reaction.

As Kyle sat listening to Ike ramble on, he closed his eyes and imagined the picture vividly, paying close attention to each detail as his mental drawing came to fruition. Once Ike stopped talking, he paused and suddenly let out a short laugh.

"It's really good. I can't wait to see it in person."

"Yeah, I thought so too," Ike sounded pleased and proud by this.

The two continued their brother to brother talk for quite a while, until Ike let out a yawn, "I'm so tired."

"But you do know that if you go to sleep you have to give your phone to mom so she can finish whatever crappy story she was telling me and then she'll be free to snoop around your phone?"

"Aw, shit."

"Haha, what have you got on their? All your plans for world domination?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Maybe," The sound of sincerity in his voice was pretty scary, "I'll just stay with her until she's done. Tell her to hurry up though, you were meant to be going to asleep anyway."

"Well it's not my fault all your lying has burnt you out," Kyle sighed contentedly.

"Whatever, just do it," he stated bluntly.

"You're really bossy."

"Yeah. Do it."

He jumped up off of the chair and ran down the stairs to give the phone back to his mother hesitantly. Her face lit up when she saw him coming and as she snatched the phone from his grip. He sighed and flopped down on the couch next to her and turned the television.

He picked up the remote and automatically flicked the channels to look for hockey before face-palming after remembering his brother's comment about him being a stereotypical Canadian for liking hockey. He thought about it for a moment, but then shrugged it off with a smile and carried on watching, especially as he could hear the familiar sound of Kyle's disgruntled sighs on the other side of the phone. At least he didn't have his mother harping on at him, which caused him to slouch back into the chair content.

**A/N: I love the character of Ike in a lot of stories, but I don't really know how to write him myself but i wanted to try, so I hope I've done alright in showing him here. In my opinion his character is just that he's basically just a rebellious smart-ass who gets what he wants when he wants! Not much story development here, just a fun chapter to show their 'brotherly bond' which I find really really cute :)**

**and I have the next chapter pretty much sorted so it shouldn't take too long for an update so thanks for reading!**

**XXX**


	8. OverSized TShirts

"Hey, we're back, Jew," he threw a few bags into the corner of the room and made his way over to the crowd of cushions on the floor that Kyle was still perched on top of.

"Shut up Cartman, he's on the phone." Kenny chirped from behind him.

"He's always on that damn phone," the larger boy dropped down onto the floor and picked up his Xbox controller and unpaused the game they had never actually turned off.

"Well he just has better people to talk to than us," he said as he sat down and picked up the other pad.

"Guys, shut up! She'll hear you!" Kyle hissed in a quiet voice.

"Who's 'she'?"

"My mom," as Kyle spoke back to them he pulled the phone away from his mouth so she didn't hear him speaking to them.

"Whatever..."

The two boys carried on their voyage through their virtual land sitting either side of the redhead as Kyle lay his head backwards onto the end of the bed. He watched the game intently as the words his mother was saying just drifted through one ear and out of the next.

Eventually Kyle breathed a sigh of relief as he heard his mother hang up the phone. He placed it quickly into his jeans back pocket and continued to watch his friends playing the game as they screeched at each other.

"So, Kyle," Kenny glanced sideward at the boy who was cheering him on in the middle and taunting the one on his other side, "What did your mom want then?"

"Oh she was just going crazy because Jacob trashed the house apparently."

"That kid's crazy, dude," Kenny nodded his head as the other two did the same.

"Yeah I know. He's pretty cool though. So what did you lot do or get when you went home?"

"Well we went to my house and my dad was out and my mom was asleep. Or unconscious. I dunno. Whatever, so I just grabbed some clothes out of the basket in the hall and ran out before anybody saw me. I don't think anybody really cared or realised that I hadn't been there. Karen might have, though. She was there too, in her room, but I didn't want to tell her I was there and then going out again, so I thought it would just be best if she didn't know I came back."

"He's just a soppy little pansy that's why. Little kids are annoying. Take that Kinny!" Cartman laughed as he shot Kenny's character with a air rifle.

"Aw, what the fuck was that for! We're meant to be working together you dip-shit!"

"For being a soppy little pansy," he shrugged casually as he turned back to the screen and carried on his journey, "We didn't get your stuff though Kahl. We drove that way, but we heard some mad screaming going on and didn't want to risk it."

"I said you couldn't go in my room so what were you planning on doing there anyway?" Kyle said, raising his eyebrow at the tubby boy.

"Since when did I ever listen to what you say? Plus we were actually just going to get Ike to do it so he could take the blame."

"You're such an asshole Cartman," Kyle rolled his eyes, "So was your mom alright with you being here then?"

"Well she was asking loads of questions about you and the hippie since she knew that something had happened so I just told her I didn't know anything but I was going to stay here with you two and she just told me to 'be careful' and went back to the kitchen. We were going to stay for dinner, cause the food in this place sucks, but she just gave us some money to buy some KFC instead so it was fine."

He gestured back to the bags where Kyle could smell the faint aroma of chicken. He had smelt it before, but just assumed that Cartman had got some on his way over and not bothered to bring him some back, but to his surprise as he jumped up and he went over to inspect the bucket it was full to the brim, untouched and was accompanied by some large packets of fries and a tub of their infamous gravy. He felt his mouth wanting to drool at the sight but held it back as he saw the other two coming over and pushing their way for first pick.

The next half an hour was spent with the three teenagers wolfing down the small feast that was in front of them and joking about random occurrences that may have occurred whilst they missed school since something really crazy hadn't happened in a while and Kenny jokily complaining that he hadn't had the pleasure of a girls company for 24 hours, to which Cartman decided to start another argument with him about and Kyle taking it as a chance to grab the last little scraps of food left in the bottom of the bag. Once they had completely finished every last morsel of food that they had, the boys let out a loud sigh of bliss.

They all felt happy once again, and sat in peace for quite a while until Cartman suddenly spoke up, "Kinny, did you bring any of the other games in the end?"

"Yeah, but I don't know which ones, just the ones that were in the pile in the bottom of the cupboard."

"You have _more_ Xbox games? Dude, I didn't even know they made that many." Kyle heaved himself up as he watched the two boys make their ways over to the bags once again.

"Not Xbox games, just board games and stuff. Random crap we haven't played in years. It was his idea," he pointed towards the blonde who looked less-than-thrilled at the mention of his name but continued to rummage anyway.

"Well we need something else to do apart from play on your Xbox all day again."

"True, but come on, Scrabble? No thanks. Monopoly? No frickin' way, that game sucks," Cartman went on to list why he didn't want to play each game that he pulled out.

"Then why did you tell Kenny to bring them all?"

"I didn't, I told you, he wanted to bring them, not me."

"Well I wouldn't mind playing some of them."

"You would say that wouldn't you, you controversial Jew,"

"I would you ass-wipe," Kyle quirked his eyebrow at him.

"Goddamnit..." Cartman sighed as he looked at the two boys who were staring at him and so proceeded to make his way back over to their nest of pillows on the floor and await the arrival of a game he didn't want to play.

"Fine, what else do you want to do fat-boy?"

"I am not fat! And I think in one of the board game boxes there's a stash of DVDs in there, we could watch some of them instead? They're gonna be really old ones though."

"Which box?"

"How should I know?"

"They're your boxes?"

"Well that doesn't mean I know."

"You're no help whatsoever."

"I've never intended to make your life easier, so why should I start now?" he said with a smirk.

"Whatever..." He and Kenny proceeded by opening every box and being covered in dust.

"I wish I really did have some more clothes now," Kyle sighed, looking down at his dusty, blood-stained shirt.

"Borrow Kinny's."

"Sorry dude, I would let you but I've only got one set of clothes with me plus the ones I'm wearing, and I've been wearing these for days anyway," he said with an embarrassed look on his face; his cheeks quickly flashing a soft pink.

"Poor piece of crap," Cartman looked up at Kyle who had made his way over to him and sighed, "Fine, you can have one of my shirts, but it would probably drown you, you being so short and all."

"Probably, but I don't care. Which bag?" Cartman gestured to a big brown bag that opened to reveal a lot of clothes stuffed into it.

Kyle pondered and slowly picked out the shirt on the top of the bunch and made his way over to the bathroom. He pushed the wrecked door backwards and closed it back as he made his way inside. He made his way in front of the familiar mirror that he had been in front of earlier and looked more carefully at the bruises that were all over his face. He ran the tap and grabbed some tissues as he dabbed carefully at his face and then the rest of his body as he took off his own shirt and replaced it with Cartman's.

It was way too big for him, probably big enough for two of him to fit in, but it was warm and comfortable, and it had the familiar dark-chocolate aftershave aroma that the larger boy often wore. It made Kyle feel an odd sense of calmness when he let the shirt drape over his skinny body and fall down to just below his knees. It was as if his newfound friendship with Cartman and his already standing friendship with Kenny made the whole situation seem less daunting and made him feel like no matter what they had all been through together, they would always have his back. He stood back and admired his reflection more closely. The shirt itself was light blue and had purple edges, with a white stripe down the middle. It was quite a nice shirt, even though it made Kyle seem like an ant inside of it.

The redhead returned to the mirror and looked back at his face. Now that he had washed away all the dried blood and felt a lot happier than earlier, he didn't feel angry when he saw his battered reflection, he just saw a boy with some bruises. They didn't look so bad anymore, and he decided not to dwell on it but to just go back to his friends who were waiting in the other room.

To his surprise, Kenny had Cartman in a headlock as the latter boy struggled to break free from his clutches. They were kicking each other for quite a while until they turned and saw Kyle standing staring back at them. They just stopped and stared back at him for a few moments, but before the Jew had a chance to ask them what was going on, the two other boys burst out in laughter.

"Wow, I knew you were short Kahl, but I didn't think you were that short! You look like you're wearing a fucking ball gown!"

"Well it's not just cause he's short, it's cause he's short and you're fat," Kenny burst into another bout of laughter as he saw both of his friends' faces go red with anger.

"I'm _not_ fat you scrawny piece of shit!"

"And I'm not that short!"

Kyle sighed as he pulled Kenny off of Cartman, "What were you two doing anyway?"

"He pissed me off," Cartman grumbled.

"Too bad he's a shit fighter though, it just pisses him off more that he can never win against me," the blonde stepped backwards and flexed his own muscles.

"Ay! I'm a great fighter!" he said, pushing Kenny back further.

"You practically run off crying everytime somebody touches you, dude," Kenny went back to the game boxes to see if he could find any of the mystery DVDs that Cartman had claimed were in there.

"No I don't!"

"Dude, calm down! I swear you two fight more than we do," Kyle said facing Cartman who by this time had lost his anger and just seemed to be trying to cause arguments for arguments sake.

"Well, you don't seem to be..." Cartman tried to think of the words carefully," in the right frame of mind to argue with me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well... for all I know, I could insult you too much and you could just pretend I'm that wall and beat me to death, or go jump out that window or something stupid like that."

"No I wouldn't!"

"Actually, you're right. You wouldn't. You would just probably come up with a really lame response instead. Like even worse than your normal crappy Jew comebacks. You've lost the fire in your eyes, Kahl. I say you beat the crap out of Stan to get your own and back and then you'll be back to normal again."

"What fire?" Kyle was confused by what Cartman was saying.

"When you get angry, I can see the glistening in your eyes dancing around and telling your brain to kick my ass. It's one of the _many_ reasons I love to piss you off. It's hilarious to see sometimes, cause I can see your brain trying to calm it down and your eyes just flicker back and forth not really knowing what's going on up there," he said casually, proding at the green hat that sat on Kyle's head.

"Oh..." Kyle stopped to think about this, but he was soon interrupted.

"See? Normally you would have tried to break my arm off for getting anywhere near your hat."

"Well maybe I just don't want to spend any more time in this hospital than I really need to. I mean it's r-"

"I found them!" Kenny shouted out from behind them.

"You did? Where?" The two boys completely forgot about what they were talking about and focused back on the blonde.

"In this box here. It's not even a board game box dumbass, you had me looking in all of them for nothing!"

"Well I did say I didn't know which one it was in! Be thankful I knew they were there anyway."

"Why? You're the only one who was against playing the other games."

"Just be thankful you have people that don't leave you to sit in your own crappy house and let you live in the _luxury_ of this hospital for a night!"

"Shut the fuck up, Cartman!"

Kyle sighed as the two started fighting again and went over to the box that Kenny had just dropped back in the bag.

"Sweet!"

"What?"

"You've got the old Terrence and Phillip DVDs in here! The ones before they got old and basically took a dump in their pants everytime they tried to fart..."

"Cool, put it in the Xbox then," Kenny let go of the fat-boy and as Kyle entered the disk pulled both of them down as they got comfortable.

"Actually, pause it for a sec," Cartman quickly jumped up and grabbed his bag of clothes and made a bee-line for the bathroom. A few moments later he re-emerged in a change of clothes and pulled out two sleeping bags from another one of his bags. He threw them at the two teens who watched him in wonder and brought himself back over and plonked himself down next to the redhead.

He returned the looks of his two friends and sighed, "If I get tired I'm not going to drag myself up mid-show to get all this stuff, I mean if you're planning on watching it from start to finish it's like five hours."

"That's true," Kyle said without noticing what he had said until it came out of his mouth as the fat-ass just rolled his eyes. He really was losing his argumentative edge with him, although he didn't mind really. He had had enough confrontation over the last few days to last him a lifetime.

Kenny ignored them both and went back to playing the DVD. It was 14 of the best episodes of Terrance and Phillip episodes all on two handy disks. They had come out as a way of trying to make a comeback quite a while ago, when the two Canadians had stopped being so funny and were replaced by a younger and more appealing duo from their country and although Terrance and Phillip had a large following of children who supported them, most of those children who were behind them from day one had grown up and stopped being so interested in their show and so there wasn't much of a fight to change the faces of Canada's main comedians.

The boys sat and laughed at all their old memories, Cartman and Kenny settling down into their sleeping bags and Kyle dragging the sheet off of his bed and snuggling into that. They carried on watching until they came to a point where, as the fat-boy had predicted, they all fell asleep with about two and a half hours of the episodes left. They all looked peaceful as they snoozed quietly next to each other and stayed there for the remainder of the night. It was a picturesque sight, the kind that would be put in Kyle's memory book if somebody would have had the chance to take the photo.

* * *

As he turned his body and flopped down onto his stomach, Kyle felt the cold, hard surface of the floor slap against his jawbone and then opened his eyes gradually whilst yawning loudly to reveal that it was nine o'clock in the morning and three boys were in the same location as they had fallen asleep in the night before, however they were all lying in awkward sprawled positions, their limbs spread out to take up the most room possible on the floor. It looked extremely uncomfortable for Kenny and Cartman especially, as they were cooped up inside their sleeping bags, although they had both seemed to escape them so that only their legs were still covered by the material.

Although he felt much better than he had felt waking up the day before, his body was still weak and he didn't really feel like moving away from his spot apart from to drag a rogue pillow that had been pushed away back under his heavy head. He watched the light from outside the room dance around on the ceiling as the sun from outside the now open window passed the rustling curtains. He assumed that one of the nurses had probably come in the room at some point and opened it. He switched his gaze to around the room and realised that the bed had been made up, the rubbish from their junk food binging and their KFC had been removed and the room just generally seemed a lot cleaner than it had the previous night.

Kyle thought that this was quite funny; the hospital staff had had the time to clean up after them but barely bothered to check and see if he was alright. He hadn't wanted them to though, but it seemed quite odd that they hadn't. But if anyone knew the staff at Hells Pass, they knew that the doctors and nurses weren't the most highly acclaimed members of their field. They didn't even bother to drag the boy off of the floor in the night; they had just left him there, although he knew that if they woke him, he would have probably just been pissed at them, so maybe they did know what they were doing. The floor felt pretty comfortable for the time being anyway.

He continued to scan the room in wonder until he lay down onto his back again and continued to stare at the sparkling ceiling. It looked magical as the light tricked his eyes making pictures of places and characters and leading him into a journey through his imagination as he made them jump around throughout their happy world and live perfect, joyful lives. He nodded his head back and forth as he watched his fantasy folk skip to and from each edge of the room. That was until he dropped his head to his side and saw Kenny looking back at him, his eyes wide in bewilderment and amusement.

Kyle immediately heaved his body up so that he was sitting upright and stared back down to see Cartman who was also awake, watching him with sleepy eyes not really seeming too fussed at the childish display he had just witnessed, but scratching at his head yawning, "What the hell are you doing, Jew?"

"I... Urm... I was watching the light."

"That explains it," he sighed looking satisfied with the answer and flopped his head back down onto his pillow and buried his body back into his sleeping bag.

"That was hilarious, you looked fricking high dude!"

"Yeah, if you say I did, I must have 'cause you know exactly what that's like," Kyle punched Kenny in the arm as he doubled over laughing, "It wasn't that funny."

"It was," Cartman murmured his head now examining the ceiling for himself and his arms bent behind him, "there's not even anything interesting to look at."

"So? It's more interesting than looking at you lot," Kyle folded his arms and bent his neck back the crane at the familiar dancing lights above him.

"That hurts, Kyle," Kenny feigned his best hurt and sad voice he could, although it was hard for him to keep a straight face as the redhead raised his eyebrow at him as if to say, 'what the hell?', "That really hurt my feelings, Kyle."

"Dude, shut the fuck up."

"No, I think we deserve an apology," he blinked his eyelashes innocently up at Kyle who was trying to act like he couldn't see him and didn't care about what he was doing or saying.

"He's too stubborn to apologize, Kinny. He's a Jew," Although Cartman was still half asleep and was drifting in and out of the conversation, he didn't fail to drop in one of his anti-Semitic cracks every so often, just to allow them to know he was still there probably.

"I said shut the fuck up!" He felt his face flushing as he got irritated at the boys taunting him while at the same time trying to stop himself from breaking into laugher himself.

"Aw, look at ginger turning the same colour as his hair!" the fat-boy had realised he wasn't going to be able to get back to sleep now and so had picked himself up off of the ground and was dusting himself off.

Kyle looked from him to Kenny and sighed to himself. This was exactly how things should be; being surrounded by his friends who cared for him, having fun and them all ripping on each other, just like it had always been.

"I love you guys," he wasn't sure if the other two had heard his comment, but he smiled at them and they smiled back at him. Well Kenny smiled, Cartman just kind of twitched the corners of his mouth and then proceeded to flip Kyle off, which caused his smile to broaden as he was about to snuggle back down into his blanket.

"So do you lot-"

"Kyle, the doctors have said it's ok to come home!"

The boys all stopped and went stiff as they heard a voice ring out throughout the room.

"Mom?"

"Yes, Bubbulah-" Sheila Broflovski came bounding into the room, her face lit up. That was until she saw the sight of Kenny and Cartman and she stopped in her tracks completely.

"What are you boys doing here again? Shouldn't you be in school and not disturbing my son? Kyle why are you on the floor?" She continued to carry on asking questions that weren't going to be answered but ignored that and carried on asking anyway.

The teenagers just glanced at each other and couldn't help but quietly snigger as the Jewish mother started pacing the room. She took a fleeting glare at the boys who shut up straight away, and then looked around and saw all of Cartman's things and looked even more irritated. She rushed over to them and started picking up each of the games that were laying around in front of the TV.

"Ay, what do you think you're doing? Put my stuff down!"

"They shouln't be here! You shouldn't be here! You need to go back to school and leave Kyle alone."

"No we don't, if anything it's _you_ who shouldn't be here! At least we make him feel better, all you do is annoy the crap out of everyone!"

"Cartman-" both Kyle and Kenny attempted to stop him but their efforts didn't work as the two larger individuals continued raging at each other.

"That is not an appropriate way to speak to an adult! You boys are nearly adults now and so you needs to learn some manners and respect young man!"

"If we're nearly adults why do you still call your son 'Bubbulah'? Why do you feel the need to check up on him all the time? Why do you try to make all his decisions for him without even asking what he thinks?"

"I-I don't have to stay here and be spoken to like that! If you don't leave this instant I will have to phone your mother and get her to come and take you away herself!" She was getting visibly frustrated by what she was being accused of.

"What kind of threat is that? She already knows I'm here anyway so it's not like she gives a damn," his same bitter tone had returned as his fist clenched whilst facing the woman who was turning crimson in anger, just like her son had been before, but in contrast to that, she was truly seething at what she was witnessing in front of her.

With sons like Kyle and Ike, she had never had to put up with confrontation. Ike was crafty enough to get around her without pissing her off too much; every bad thing he did, or in better terms everything he did that he didn't want his mother to know about, was discreetly handled so that she never would, and if she ever did catch him he had a good way of switching the situation to suit him and not get into trouble for it. As for Kyle, as he had been scared of his mother from a young age, he tried to never step a foot out of line and when he did he automatically apologized without causing that much of a fuss. She was one of the only people that caused all of Kyle's stubbornness to leave him and turn into panic instead when he faced confrontation with her.

"Get out of here right now, young man!"

"No, I'll stay as long as I want!"

"You might get to talk to your mother like that, but you _will_ talk to me in a better tone!"

"Or what, bitch?" Cartman had snapped.

He had always hated Kyle's mom and he didn't care about whether or not she thought he was 'respectful'. All he cared about at this moment was getting rid of her as she was really starting to piss him off, and he didn't want to do something he'd regret.

She looked like she was going to explode with rage, but instead of retaliating she turned on her heel and stormed out of the room ranting to herself. There was a long silence after she left and the awkwardness lingered in the air.

Kyle let out a sigh of exasperation as he saw his mother turn the corner of the door and he jumped up and rushed over to Cartman, not really knowing how to proceed, so he stuck to what he knew, "Cartman, stop calling my mom a bitch!"

"For real? That's all you have to fucking say? She _is_ one and the sooner _you_ admit that the easier it will be for you to stand up to her for once! Do you want to be in your 30s and still living with her because she's too overprotective and won't let you leave? 'Cause that's what'll happen, Kahl!"

"Well..." Kyle looked thoughtful, "Maybe she is a bit overprotective, but it's not her fault..."

"How is that not her fault?"

"Why do you care? You're always complaining that your mom doesn't care about what you do," he didn't understand why he was being so hypercritical towards him but his usual fire was back burning inside of him.

"Don't try and turn this on me you goddamn Jew! My mom doesn't care what I do generally and it annoys me, yeah, but when I want her to listen to what I'm saying, she will. Your stupid mother keeps you glued to her all the time but don't give a shit about anything you say!"

"Yeah she does! She just wants what's best for me!..." his voice trailed off as he felt a lump in throat and saw the change in expression on Cartman's face. It was less harsh, and more pitiful, which made him feel even worse.

"Just like you? Caring too much and wanting what you presume is 'best' for everyone?"

Kyle tried to come up with a response, but for the life of him he couldn't get another word out.

The truth had never hurt him so much.

**A/N: Wow, a bit of drama going on there, but don't worry it won't last for long. Well, not between them two anyway. This has been quite a long one compared to some of the others, so thanks for still reading :)**

**Again, I'd appreciate some more feedback on what you think so don't hesitate to leave a review!**

**Thanks again!**

**XXX**


	9. Don't You Remember? Part I

Kyle approached the school gates apprehensively, not quite sure of if people had already heard about what had happened between him and Stan. He had been let out of the hospital on the Friday after Cartman had had a go at both him and his mother. Although Kyle felt like ripping the fatass's head off, he had known what he was saying had a point, and so they both decided to shrug it off. Neither apologized and the confrontation had never really finished, but instead they went on to pretend it had never happened and carried on for the rest of the day going back to their previous friendship.

All the time that all arguments had been occurring, Kenny had been standing by and just watching it happen. He didn't really like getting involved in arguments if they weren't his own battle to fight and as he was used to overhearing them everyday in his home and by the other two teens at school as well, they didn't seem to faze him much. He knew they would get back on equal terms at the end of it, they always did. That's what made the four, or what seemed now to be three, of them best friends.

It was Monday now and the three of them went to their usual place on the front steps of school building. They were greeted by strange looks from other pupils, commenting on the remaining bruises on the redhead's face. They had gone down significantly since it had happened, however it could still be seen and caused Kyle to feel extremely self conscious and so as he sat he tried to duck his head whenever people would walk past and pulled his hat down as far as it possibly could go. Cartman had his headphones on full blast in his ears and Kenny had been distracted by a girl who had made his way past them. Kyle had nothing to do but sit under what felt like a burning spotlight aimed at him and have no way of getting away from it.

"Did Stan do that?"

"W-what?"

"Stan. Did he hit you?" It was Craig, standing over him, his hands pushed into his jacket pockets.

"Um... How do you know about Stan?"

"Butters told us he got really pissed off at you last week, then you disappeared, then you turn up like this. Was it Stan?" He stated each point so matter-of-factly with his usual lack of emotion painted across him face.

"Y-yeah. But it wasn't that big of a deal."

"Then why did he hit you? And why didn't you hit him back?"

"W-we had an argument."

"Why didn't you hit him back?" He asked the same question again, not attempting to move from his motionless position.

"I wouldn't hit Stan."

"He hit you, though."

"Well..." Kyle thought back to the day he had been attacked and tried to remember what had been going through his own mind, "To be honest, I don't really think I knew what was happening so I didn't have time to react."

"I still think you should have kicked his ass."

"You would think that, you violent asshole," he was getting annoyed by the constant questioning, especially as Craig's face gave him the impression that he actually didn't give a damn about what he was saying.

"Yeah, well at least I wouldn't let myself be kicked around by my so-called best friend."

"Craig, are you purposely trying to piss me off?"

"No."

"Then can you get the fuck away from me?"

"Sure," he shrugged his shoulders and walked nonchalantly away from the redhead who was holding his head in his hands.

He already felt like he had made the wrong decision by coming back to school so soon, and considered just getting up and leaving, however as he was about to, he caught sight of a familiar person making her way through the front gates. She was on her own, with her head bent downwards as if her shoes were the most interesting things in the world. Her hair brushed down past her cheeks so that from a distance it was practically unrecognisable whether she had any markings on her face whatsoever. She bustled past everyone not attempting to look up at any one of her friends as she was trying her best to stay hidden, though because nobody even realised that she had passed them, they continued on with their own conversations.

Kyle shot up from the step and started to make his way over to her but it was as he got closer to her that he remembered that it was her that had called the police before he had even had a chance to see the raven haired boy himself. At first he had felt relieved to see her, but as these thoughts came back to him he felt angered once again.

"Wendy!"

Her head snapped upwards impulsively as she heard her name being called out across the grounds, but almost immediately dropped it back down without bothering to look around at who it was. Kyle ran up in front of her and as she tried to swerve around him he took hold of her wrist gently but firmly and turned her around to face him. He watched as her face went from a lack of emotion, to shock and surprise and then to anger. She tried to snatch her hand back but he stayed strong in his grip. They spent a few moments with their eyes locked on each others before they both came to their senses.

"What do _you_ want?" she spat the words out with venom as Kyle pulled her in the direction of some trees at the edge of the school. It was a dark area covered by elm trees growing both high and low and as they walked through them, they got to a point where the land was flat and empty, besides the mud and dirt on the ground beneath them where they were separated from the people on the main playground and the hustling and bustling of the school were nothing more than a hushed drone in the background.

"I want you to explain why the police came to question me about Stan!" after everything that had happened and everything he'd been through, he decided that he wanted some answers. "You know I wanted to help him myself, the police didn't and still don't need to get involved!"

" I am not in the wrong here, Kyle! I told you I was going to and you agreed!" Wendy tried to speak as calmly as possible, but still screeched the words at the redhead as she pulled her arm away from him.

"I did not agree to call the cops on my best friend, Wendy! I would remember if I did something like that..." Kyle stopped as he thought back to all conversations he had had with Wendy in the last week.

"Yes you did! When you first woke up I called you and you told me you agreed with the idea so don't try and tell me you didn't! Don't you remember?"

"I..." the redhead continued to retrace his steps and knew exactly what conversation she was talking about:

* * *

_"Hi, Kyle I know you said you're alright and everything but are you sure? I mean like I was really worried about you, I'm just glad you were in the hospital already or who know what would happen," Wendy was babbling on the other side of the phone, whilst Kyle sat there drifting in and out of what she was saying._

_"Hey Kyle, here's your water, sorry we took so long we got a bit lost." Kenny walked in._

_"Lost? We've been here loads of times before..."_

_"Well I'm normally in the beds; I don't usually go walking around looking for water..."_

_"True... Haha wow, we really need to stop getting sick and injured don't we," The two boys glanced at each other and then burst out laughing. It wasn't that funny really, but they just felt the need to laugh at themselves instead of being so tense and on-edge._

_"Kyle? Kyle? What are you laughing at?"_

_"Oh sorry Wendy, it was just something Kenny said. No, I totally agree with what you're saying," he said back to her, even though he didn't really know what she was saying._

* * *

"Oh shit," he vividly remembered his chat with Kenny the night he awoke in the hospital and how he had just absentmindedly agreed with whatever it was Wendy had said to him, "Wendy I-"

"Why did you agree if you were just going to ignore them when they got there?"

"I didn't know what you were saying, I was distracted..."

"So you just didn't care what I was saying and chose to ignore me? That's nice Kyle, I thought you cared, but obviously not!" her voice choked slightly.

"No, I-" his face flushed slightly as he saw the look of annoyance and sadness on Wendy's face.

"Stan got released from jail because they didn't have any evidence to hold him in for, so now he's probably out drinking and causing himself more damage with nobody there to help him!"

"But what about you?"

"What about me?" she raised her eyebrow at Kyle whose face had a face mixed with guilt and confusion.

"He...You know... hit you too, so why couldn't they hold him to that?"

"Because there were no witnesses and he told them that it couldn't have been him because he was the one who brought me here and he made them check the hospital security cameras to check his alibi."

"It could have still been him, even though he brought you, that isn't a logical judgment!"

"Well he spun another story saying how he didn't want them to think it was him so that's why he left me instead of bringing me in because he didn't think they would involve the authorities if I came in alone. Plus he also said that because I saw him before I was attacked by 'an unknown person' that I might mistake him as the person since he was a 'prominent' person in my life so I could have been thinking about him and that it meant in this case I wasn't a reliable source of information."

"And they just believed him? What a bunch of fucking assholes!"

"Well remember when all that crazy stuff used to happen in town and you guys used to always help sort it out? They decided that _he _must be a pretty solid source because of it, especially as you've all worked with the cops themselves as well."

"That was years ago, though! Plus you have firm connections to the mayor and all that government stuff, so you technically should have the better say!"

"But he already convinced them that I couldn't give a reasonable explanation because I was unconscious."

"So was I though."

"But you had witnesses."

"You were one of them."

"They said I would be biased in my judgement."

"Damn it..."

"Plus it wouldn't have been relevant anyway," she turned away from him and sat down on a long log that was at the edge of the clearing before looking back at Kyle, "because you were a dick and told them you didn't want to give a statement!"

"I-"

"Now nobody knows where he is and if anything has happened to him I will be holding _you_ responsible, Kyle!"

"What? Me? What the hell? I didn't do anything! If you hadn't called them he would still be in his house! Why did you think calling them would help him in some way whatsoever anyway?"

"Because he would have had _no choice_ but to be kept away from alcohol and would have had _no choice_ but to attend some kind of therapy or something in there," she rolled her eyes as if it was the most self-explanatory explanation in the world.

"Oh..." he felt a twang of guilt surge through his body as he thought about what could have happened to his best friend. He walked over to the log and stood in front of her awkwardly as she dropped her head down away from his sight.

Stan was probably alone somewhere, cold and hungry with nobody to turn to. Although he was normally straight-thinking and rational, he was one of those people that under immense stress would go crazy and do something absolutely stupid and as he'd have nobody there to stop him, who knows what kind of trouble he'd be in right now?

"I'm so scared, Kyle..." although Wendy had looked like she wanted to rip his head off before, her face crumpled as she let out a disgruntled sigh, "He might have hit me, but I know he didn't mean to, and he needs my..." she looked up at the redhead pleadingly, "_Our_ help."

"But why haven't you gone looking for him then? I mean he couldn't have gone that far when you first found out that he wasn't being held? And what about his family? Aren't they looking for him?"

"He had been gone for a while when they eventually told me, but my parents wouldn't let me go and find him. They said that his mom and dad had been looking and that it wasn't my responsibility anymore. They even dropped me off at school themselves so I wouldn't be able to go and find him before school started."

"So why don't we go now?" Kyle sighed heavily and sat next to her, crooking his neck to look her in the eye so she knew he was being serious in his suggestion. He didn't want to have the guilt of something happening to Stan on his shoulders, not just from Wendy, but from his own conscience.

"Now? But..." she looked around frantically and pulled back her sleeve to glance at her watch, "We're late enough for lessons as it is, we're going to get in so much trouble..." she shot up and her eyes darted towards and away from the entrance to the clearing.

"Exactly, so we're going to get in trouble no matter what we do," Kyle stood up to look Wendy in the eye once more, his emerald orbs wide, "So what's more important; not getting in trouble with school or finding Stan?"

"Finding Stan obviously..."

"So... what are we going to do then?" he asked gradually.

"Well how are we going to get around without being caught? Somebody might recognise us around town or something, and it'll take really long if we're going on the bus..."

She made a good point. If they were looking for Stan and didn't have any clue whatsoever to his current whereabouts, the bus wasn't going to be much help if they didn't have control over what direction it was going in. They could ask people, but then they might get stopped and told to get back to school, or even worse somebody could call the school or even their parents and tell them what they've been up to. Neither of them had cars or any other sort of transportation, so there didn't seem to be anything they could do. Or was there?

"How about if we ask Cartman?"

"What?" she looked up curiously at Kyle who was looking back at her, a thoughtful expression plastered across his pale face.

"We could ask Cartman to drive us in his car," he suggested slowly and tentatively.

"Cartman? No way! You know we can't do that! He'd say no without even listening to what we have to say if I'm there!" her face looked horrified at the thought.

"Well there's no harm in asking, though. I just won't tell him you're here for now," Kyle took out his phone to look down at the time. Cartman would be in lessons right now, or at least should have been, so calling him wouldn't be the smartest idea.

As if she had been thinking the same idea, Wendy shook her head thoughtfully, "No, he's going to be in lessons now. But what am I saying? We can't ask Cartman!"

"Well there isn't really anybody else we can ask... We should ask him after first period is over, I think he has a free..." Kyle continued to ponder over the situation to himself as he returned to his spot on the log, his hand on his chin as he sat deep in though.

"Kyle! Don't you remember what happened? He won't even look at me anymore, and when he does they're evil glares, he won't help us!"

She sighed deeply as she perched on the tree log next to Kyle. To his surprise, she rested her head on the redhead's shoulder as she rubbed at her temples in small circular motions. Her dark hair brushed down past her face and left Kyle stunned and perplexed as to what he should do. He just sat and tapped her back slowly as she breathed gently into his collarbone.

* * *

They were 15 and everything was great. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny enjoyed their summer together, accepting that with the amount of school work and exams that were going to be coming back their way when they got back they'd have to make the most of this time and so they did.

Stan, who had come to a secure place in his on-off on-off relationship with Wendy, considered the idea of this summer being one of his last chances for a while to hang out with his friends and decided to make a drastic decision about his relationship with her.

After thinking it over in his head for quite a while, considering whether he really wanted to go through with it, he was determined that it was for the best. She'd done it plenty of times to him before and she seemed pretty distant from people nowadays and it was getting pretty dismal hanging around her.

"You're breaking up with me? What? Why Stan?" her voice was quiet as the words left her lips, not daring to open her mouth any louder in case she choked on her inevitable tears that were on the brink of falling down from her eyes.

"I just need my space. I need to focus on my friends. I'm sorry Wendy." Stan replied back to her, his voice monotonous, as if he had had no feelings towards the situation whatsoever, and hung up the phone before grabbing his jacket and running out of the door in the direction of the basketball courts.

Wendy sat back against her desk chair, her body frozen with confusion and misery. Had she been too clingy? Had she done something to annoy him? What did she do? Once she had gone through every possible thought as to why he had done what he had done she exhaled a deep breath as she looked down at the phone in her hands. It lay there silent and blameless, but as the anger grew inside of her, she let it out by throwing it violently at the wall opposite her. The sadness had escaped her body and had been replaced by fury.

She hadn't done anything wrong, if anything he was the one who had been worth dumping! He often forgot about their arrangements to meet up and when he did he was usually late and came up with some lame excuse and just tried to kiss her to make it up to her. As Wendy didn't like fighting with him, she would just forget about it and accept when he said 'I'll be there next time, I promise,' although she seemed to hear that particular statement cross his lips pretty frequently. Stan Marsh made a lot of promises actually, most of which he didn't successfully keep. It seemed like he didn't really understand the actual meaning of the word 'promise'. However as time went on, he appeared to have changed. Matured. He didn't make excuses for his wrongdoings anymore and instead just apologized point-blank to her. His newfound maturity didn't go unnoticed by Wendy as well, she loved that he was becoming more of a man and less of a boy, but as she seethed about what he had just done to her, she decided that he wasn't a man. He wasn't even a boy. He was more like a brain-dead fetus in her eyes. He didn't even bother to tell her in person, he did it over the phone for Christ's sake!

She threw herself onto her bed, her eyes welling up with tears. She didn't know what to do. Her emotions were going wild as her head spinning and she eventually just cried herself to sleep, curled up in her bedroom alone.

After a week of being free from Wendy's 'clutches', and having spent his entire week having fun just chilling with his friends, Stan was feeling idyllic. So idyllic that he decided he could make it even better. They had been invited to party and there was only one thing on his mind. Girls. He didn't even care about whether or not Wendy would be there, that wasn't going to stop him. She had been invited, but because she knew Stan would be there, she decided she _did_ care about if he was there and chose to avoid him at all costs, even if that meant skipping out on a few parties.

When they reached the doors of the party, Stan was straight in, not even bothering to wait for Cartman, Kyle and Kenny who were following behind him. He made a bee-line straight for the drinks table and started looking for his first 'target' of the night. They may have been under the legal drinking age, but that didn't stop them from obtaining alcohol from anywhere they possibly could. Stan especially had a high tolerance of his liquor, back from when he had been in a 'dark place' in his life and also the fact that he always had a lot of the stuff laying around in his house, so much that if one or two bottles went missing, it wasn't realized by anybody. He had tried to learn to control how much he had and he had been pretty successful in this, only having them occasionally on special occasions and at parties. That being said, he did kind of over-do it on those instances to make up for it.

At the end of the night, Stan boasted back to his friends at the double digit number of girls he had made out with that night. Most of them were from Middle Park or some other place and he was unlikely to see them again, which left a lingering smile on his face as he didn't have any bonds or responsibilities to anybody. Just the taste of vomit as he threw up over Kenny's toilet, with Cartman and Kenny lazily falling onto the couch in the other room and Kyle sitting next to him sighing softly. Kenny's house was their 'go-to' place when they were wasted. His parents didn't realize or particularly care that they were intoxicated as they were usually the same way themselves, and so the boys usually crashed there any night they knew they were going to a party with booze. They stumbled around for a while after they had got back there, but eventually just crashed out on Kenny's bedroom floor, Stan with the same smug smile on his face.

Over the next couple of weeks, Stan became more distant from his friends; blowing them off to go off with girls that he usually didn't go back to after he'd been with them for a day. The boys started out being pretty pissed at him, but they gradually got used to not having him around again, they had been like that most of the time before when he was still with Wendy anyway, so it didn't affect them too greatly. It bummed Kyle out a bit that his best friend was turning into a man-whore, but when he tried to confront him on it, he was just brushed off and told that it wasn't his business. Instead of trying to fight back, he just walked off and left him; it didn't feel like it was worth the fight.

Wendy kept to herself for most the summer, not leaving her room unless it was necessary and blowing off all her responsibilities with helping out at the town hall. She worked on their new scheme as one of their 'young advisors' to help the town function and she took the job very seriously usually, however as she couldn't think straight most of the time, she didn't see the point anymore. Her friends were all out doing things, but when they invited her to join them she declined and they didn't bother to persist the point and left her to stay holed up in her room on her own. Bebe had often offered to come and stay with her, but was faced with rejection on multiple occasions and her patience was running out.

As Kyle deliberated about what he should do about Stan, he thought about Wendy and decided he would go and see her. He was still good friends with her, even though Stan had broken up with her, because he had assumed that as usual they were going to get back together after a day or two, however when this didn't happen he thought that going to see her might help him think of a way of getting the dark haired boy back on track himself, if not back together with her. He had seen her one day being dragged to the supermarket by her mother looking miserable and avoiding eye contact with everyone, hers fixed on the floor at all times. He had wanted to go over to her, but he was with his own mother who was just leaving as the Testaburgers entered the store, and she wouldn't allow him to go and 'bother them' when he had chores to do at home. He made a mental note to himself he should talk to her at some point anyway and so he couldn't think of any better use of his time than to go and see her.

When he reached her house, he was surprised that it didn't take much for to let him in. He had been let into the house by Wendy's mother, who was happy to see Kyle there. She had known him for a while and knew that the two teens were quite good friends and so kindly allowed him into their home to see if Wendy wanted to see him. When she first laid eyes on him, she just stood at the top of the stairs and blinked at the boy who was looking back at her, feeling quite awkward. After a few seconds had passed she sighed and nodded her head towards the direction of her bedroom and shuffled back towards it. Not knowing what he was meant to do, Kyle glanced over at Mrs. Testaburger who was smiling at him and ushered him up the stairs.

He knocked hesitantly on the door and stood in silence as he awaited an answer. The door slowly creaked open and he took one step inside to see Wendy standing staring back at him. Her eyes were vacant and she looked apathetic as she stepped backwards to let him further into the room and to close the door behind him. The boy once again found himself in an awkward position and so stood in the centre of the room and just looked around at his surroundings. It was bright and colorful in there, apart from the fact that the curtains weren't fully opened. The walls were a light color with lots of posters scattered across them and a large board on them, covered with scraps of paper and pictures of things to do with the organizations she was involved in like a picture of a dolphin and a giant breast cancer awareness pin. It was fascinating to see; it was like Wendy in board form. Whilst Kyle engrossed himself in looking at each scrap of paper in turn, he realized that she was still standing behind him, her arms folded but her eyes still as uninterested as they had been before.

"Um, hi."

She sighed loudly, "Hello Kyle. Is there a reason you've come here other than to look at my stuff?"

"Y-yeah. I wanted to know if you were alright. I saw you the other day, but I didn't have the chance to come and say hi, but you didn't look happy, so I just thought I'd, you know, come and say hi?" His voice trailed off as he saw her eyebrow twitch slightly at him.

"Happy? Why would I be happy? I got broken up with, for no good reason, and you expect me to be happy?" She sounded angry, but her facial expression didn't appear to change at all, which was pretty disturbing actually.

"I just meant that I wanted to know if there was anything I could do? But, um, if you don't want me here, I can just go-" he was pretty shaken and didn't want to stick around to be the consequence of a psychotic rant, before feeling a tug on his jacket sleeve as he turned to leave.

"Sorry," she looked at him with her eyes with slightly more life in them than before, looking sorrowfully into his.

"It's ok…"

"Please stay, I mean if you still want to…"

"Ok, sure," Kyle smiled kindly at Wendy whose sad eyes warmed at him.

They both sat down on the edge of her bed in an unspoken agreed silence for a while. They just gazed around the room happily enjoying each other's company. It wasn't often they actual hung out together, especially alone, considering Stan was somebody prone to jealousy and was pretty protective over Wendy when they were together. They mostly interacted when they were in groups or when they were together for assignments at school, however as they were mostly focused on work then, they didn't really have many conversations on anything else. They were used to that and so they didn't find this silence uncomfortable, it was actually more like a normality and made them feel more relaxed with each other.

"Do you want to go to the movies?"

"Huh?" Wendy looked down at Kyle who was now lying on his back staring up at her ceiling.

"The movies. Me, Kenny and Cartman were gonna go later. Do you wanna join us?"

"Um…" She looked anxious at the thought of leaving the house.

"We won't see Stan if that's what you're worried about," Kyle sat up and looked over at Wendy who was biting her bottom lip.

"How do you know?"

"'Cause he's going to some party up in Middle Park tonight so he'll probably be leaving early to get there on time for some decent partying," he sighed at the thought.

"Middle Park? Since when did he know people in Middle Park?"

"Um…" He didn't really know how to respond, "I think he just met people at other parties and stuff…"

"Girls?"

"Wendy, stop thinking about Stan. Let's just go to the movies tonight, have fun and we can deal with that stuff another day," he sighed again, but then smiled at her in the most reassuring way possible.

"… Ok."

"Cool, so we're going at about 4 o'clock, so do you want me to go and come back then?"

"Alright…," She glanced at her wall clock. 1 o'clock.

"Don't bail out on us though," he stood up slowly, "It'll be great, I promise," he flashed one last smile at her as he backed out of the room quickly.

Unlike Stan, Kyle was somebody who lived religiously by the acts he promised. If those words crossed his lips, it was going to come true.

As the door closed, she let out a quiet, "Bye," and heaved herself up.

She was in joggers and an old tee, her hair a mess and no make-up on. She didn't wear much, but in her opinion, that little bit made a big difference. She hadn't minded that Kyle had seen her in that state, but she had no intention of leaving the house like that. She proceeded to spend the rest of the time she had until Kyle came back trying to make herself presentable to the outside world.

When the redhead came back to the house, he was being followed by a cheerful Kenny and an argumentative Cartman. The fat-boy was pissed that Wendy was going to be joining them, he avoided her at all costs, claiming she was 'a worse hippy than the other hippy', referring to Stan of course. He complained that she was going to be harping on at them all evening and eventually stopped for a while after being slapped by Kyle who just told him to suck it up. He was going to carry on arguing his case, but they had reached the door and only a few seconds after Kyle knocked onto it, Wendy was standing in front of them. He took one look at her there, and that shut him straight up.

* * *

**A/N: Ok so this wasn't supposed to end here, but the back story is getting so long that it's really going to have to be in two parts sorry! **

**Anyway, just F.Y.I in the main plot, Kyle, Cartman, Wendy and Kenny (and Butters :3) are 16 and Stan is 17 to correspond with the dates already mentioned and their actual birthdays(apart from I don't know Wendy's birthday so I'm making hers up- it isn't listed) and so in the back story (if you didn't realise that the lines were when they were thinking back to memories) they're all 15 (apart from Wendy- for reasons to come :D)**

**Thanks again for reading and comments I really do appreciate them and the PMs I've got too so hope you like what I've written so far and hopefully part two won't be too long to come!**

_**Oh and HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE BROFLOVSKI! **_

**Haha his birthday is actually 26th of May, (just like Matt Stone's :D) so I feel it's my duty to dedicate this chapter to my favourite character :D x**

**XXX**


	10. Don't You Remember? Part II

"He doesn't hate you, Wendy," Kyle spoke gently as he looked over at the dark haired girl who had resorted to chewing on her thumb nail nervously, her head still resting firmly on his shoulder.

"Yes he does! I've tried talking to him, you know, about what happened and stuff, but he won't listen to me… It just ends up in an argument or usually him just walking away before I even have a chance to open my mouth," she sighed quietly.

"He holds grudges, yeah sure. I mean he's been ripping on me since preschool, but I guess we're sort of friends kinda, now," Kyle thought it felt a bit weird calling them that, but continued anyway, "But we need his help with this, so he'd better just swallow his pride and grow some fucking balls. It might have hurt, but it's been over a year now, and I'm not letting his huge ego get in the way of finding Stan."

"You've always been friends, Kyle. You're just too stubborn to admit it," she whispered gently.

He laughed lightly, "Yeah, whatever."

Wendy shifted off of him for a moment and pushed a few strands of her hair back behind her ears. She stared up into Kyle's eyes; they were determined, that same fire he had when he wasn't going to budge from his standpoint on something, much like what Cartman had referenced before, only this time, less angry and more strong-willed. She wasn't going to get him to change her mind- even Stan couldn't do that when he had that look and mindset- so she just shrugged her shoulders in defeat and went back to leaning on the redhead's shoulder blade.

* * *

"Wow, Wendy, you look really pretty," Kyle smiled kindly at the girl who jumped down from her house step as they started to walk back down the path.

She was wearing her usual padded purple jacket with a white and purple fairisle jumper and a short pleated yellow skirt. Her hair fell down past her shoulders in soft curls as her hat lay slightly lopsided on the top of her head. She had opted mostly for her usual natural make-up, but her lips were a light pink and her eyelashes thick with mascara.

"Thanks," she dipped her head slightly so he couldn't see her face tint slightly, "So do you. I mean not pretty, sorry I mean um," she continued to get flustered as she saw the three boys just standing and watching her, "Nice; you all look very nice,"

She didn't receive compliments much, well not ones that felt genuine. She got them from Stan all the time before, but they were usually when he was trying to suck up to her after disappointing her somehow. Her mind wondered to thinking about how a lot of the cute and romantic stuff Stan ever did for her was because he was trying to weasel his way out of trouble with her actually, but she didn't want to start thinking about him now. This was her chance to just have a fun night out and forget all about her troubles. She was going to make the most of this night, and she was determined that nothing was going to stop that from happening.

The boys glanced at each other as she wandered past them and the redhead joined her. Cartman and Kenny hung back as Kyle and Wendy walked ahead, now distracted by their own random chit-chat. They watched as they stepped in sync with each other and couldn't help but think something was up.

"Dude, I can't believe Kahl is finally doing something about Wendy. I mean them two have been sniffing around each other for years; Stan's just always been in the way. It's about fucking time…" Cartman spoke in a hushed tone so they wouldn't hear them. They weren't in direct ear shot, but they were only a couple yards away.

"What? Nah, Kyle would never do that to Stan, actually I'm pretty sure he _couldn't _even if he tried, he's too loyal for his own good. He said he just wants to get her out the house because she's just been a bit depressed lately. They're just good friends is all," Kenny shrugged as he cocked his head and studied Wendy more closely, "She is looking pretty hot though, so if he's not getting in there I might take a crack myself," he sniggered and waggled his eyebrows at her as he felt a heavy hand slap him in the back of his head.

"You're such a whore, Kenny, Goddamnit…"

"That fucking hurt, Cartman!"

"Serves you right! Stop being such a perv next to me!" Their voices were getting slightly louder but they didn't realize until Kyle and Wendy looked back at them, their faces looking puzzled.

"What are you two talking about?" Kyle slowed down a bit so he would be on level with them.

"Ur, nothing, he's just being a dick," Cartman quickly interjected.

Kenny frowned at that, but then switched his face to the most charming smile he could facing the girl and looking into her eyes but still addressing Kyle, "No I'm not, I was just explaining how ravishing Wendy looks on this fine day."

He flashed her a charismatic smile, just to be greeted by a skeptical look coming back at him. Kyle and Cartman had exchanged glances as they witnessed this happening, but then burst out laughing when they saw the expression on Wendy's face.

"Urm, thanks, Kenny…" she arched her eyebrow and shook her head jokingly as she turned back to walk forwards after being caught up with by Kyle.

After they were a suitable distance behind them again, Kenny turned back to Cartman who was walking with his hands pushed into his pockets and his head facing the ground.

"Maybe she does like him, she didn't react like that to him when he said it," Kenny looked baffled by his rejection.

"Well obviously they're both hot for each other," Cartman continued to scuff his shoes against the pavement as he strolled alongside the blonde boy, "but she knows what you're like anyway, so you can't blame her for being skeptical."

Once again ignoring him, he continued to speak, "Damn, I would have never thought he would've done that to Stan. But I guess he has been a bit of an asshole by leaving us all the time, Kyle's probably just sick of him now."

"Can we just change the subject before you get all hormonal about the fucking hippie…"

"Whatever, dude. So did you see that girl who just walked past a second ago," he turned and looked at the brunette walking in the opposite direction to where they were walking, "She is _smoking_ hot!" Kenny's familiar predatory smile returned to his face as Cartman sighed and watched him run off and then try and fail to get her number.

Up ahead, Kyle was perfectly content chatting to Wendy and thinking about how he could sensitively get onto the subject of Stan without completely ruining the night. It took him pretty long to work it out, but in the end he realized that there really wasn't a way. All he had to do was be a good friend to her; at this time she was his first main concern. He was pretty sure Stan could look after himself; however he had seen how upset Wendy had been earlier and how happy she now looked bobbing down the road next to him and wanted to make sure she stayed that way.

While he was deep in his thoughts and Wendy appeared to be deep in hers, he was surprised when he suddenly heard her speak softly, "Thanks, Kyle."

He chuckled a little, "For what?"

"Convincing me to get out of the house."

"We've barely gone anywhere," he laughed again as he saw the thoughtful look on her face.

"Yeah, but already I feel ten times better than I have for a while."

"Oh, ok then. Well, I guess you're welcome," he smiled warmly as he nudged her friendlily with his elbow to which he received one right back, with what seemed like an even bigger smile from her.

When they eventually reached the movie theater, they all split up to do their own things. They had already spent over fifteen minutes arguing about what film to watch, but in the end settled on one that claimed to be an 'action thriller romance comedy' which obviously was going to suck if it was claiming to be everything, but it was the only thing that had something that each of them wanted. Cartman wanted the thriller, Kyle the action, Wendy the comedy and Kenny surprisingly wanting the romance. He was a strange kid to say the least.

When they had purchased their tickets, Kyle went to the bathroom, Kenny started talking to some random people he knew who were waiting for their own film to start and so Cartman was left to stand alone with Wendy, an awkward silence hanging over them. He was still finding the ground particularly interesting as he felt Wendy's presence next to him.

"Hi, Cartman," she decided to attempt to break the silent tension between them.

At first Cartman said nothing, but then sighed, "Hey."

"Are you alright?" She stopped to think about how she had snapped at Kyle when he had asked her that earlier and gently placed a hand on his arm.

He froze in his position as he felt her soft hands land on him. It took him a moment to process what she just did and whipped around to look down at her and shout at her for touching him, but as soon as his eyes met hers it was as if time had stopped completely. There was nobody else around, just them. Nothing else to look at, just her. Nowhere else mattered, just here. The moment could have lasted a second, a minute, an hour, he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't want it to end. The sensation of her long, nimble fingers delicately touching his skin was enough to make all his previous anger melt away in a rush as it was replaced by a state of ecstasy. He gazed deeply into her striking eyes as they peered back at him with the same intensity. Their hearts began beating faster and faster, the racing of them never ceasing as their euphoria continued on for what could have been an entire lifetime. It was perfect.

"Hey guys, it's about to start, come on!" they both snapped out of their trance when they heard Kenny calling out to them, grabbing Kyle as he exited the toilets and trotting towards the correct door.

Cartman and Wendy quickly looked away from each other, both of their faces flushing scarlet, but just as she turned on her heel to hurry off in the direction of the other two, she heard Cartman softly say, "Yeah, amazing," and scurry off towards his friends.

Just as they expected, the film was awful. Parts of it were alright, they could appreciate all of the different themes and elements in there, but all together it was just downright terrible. Not that any of them but Kenny was paying much attention after the first fifteen minutes any. Kyle had drifted back to thinking about Stan and what he could do to help Wendy, although not to his knowledge, she was positively beaming right now. Cartman was the same as his thoughts drifted to the dark haired girl three seats away from him. They were on opposite ends to each other with Kenny and Kyle in-between them, however they couldn't stop thinking about what had happened whilst they were waiting outside. It was so odd, neither of them expected it to happen; it just did. They hadn't even spoken for ages because most of what they had to say to and about each other was pretty negative, but no matter how hard they could try, neither of them could deny that they had just experienced a 'moment'. It was like a bolt of electricity had surged through each of them and now their brains were going haywire trying to logically process what had happened. They didn't come to any logical explanations though, all Wendy knew was that when Kyle promised that this evening was going to be great, he wasn't lying and the night had barely begun.

"Thanks, Kyle," she murmured in a hushed voice, more to herself than to him because she wasn't even sure he had heard her, but she felt it necessary to say it anyway.

When the night finally came to an end, Wendy walked up to her door with her arm linked in with Kyle's. She loved how safe he made her feel; he was like the big brother she had never had, even though they were about the same age. All the sadness and anger she had been harboring just seemed to melt out of her in his presence, and seemed to be completely obliterated since the evening's events. They both sighed contentedly as they released each other from their grip and just stopped and stared at their surroundings for a while. The moon and the stars were out, glistening above their heads in the dark sky. There wasn't much snow around, due to it being summer, although it was still a bit cold so they didn't stay standing around for very long.

"I know I've said this about ten billion times already, but thank you, Kyle," she shot forward and threw her arms around Kyle's thin shivering body.

He stumbled back at the unexpected gesture, but laughed softly as he hugged her back, "Wendy, I know we don't hang out as much as we could, but we've been such good friends for so long now, you don't need to thank me, that's just what friends are for."

"Yeah… you were right, tonight really was great," she momentarily squeezed him tighter and let go as she stepped backwards, falling gracefully out of his arms and against her door.

"Well I'm glad you had fun," he smiled cheerfully as he held his own arms for warmth, "and I'm pleased Kenny and Cartman were alright with you being there; I wasn't sure how'd they'd be at first, but they were actually pretty cool about it."

At the sound of 'his' name, Wendy's face flushed furiously, but she quickly clamped her hands over her cheeks, "Yeah, they were pretty cool. But, urm, it's getting a bit more chilly now, so…"

"Yeah you're right, I should get going," he quickly gave his arms one last quick rub for warmth and then turned to leave.

"No, I didn't mean you had to leave, I just meant-"

"Haha, I know you didn't, but I've gotta be getting home soon anyway. I've got to pick my brother up from hockey practice on the way anyway, so if I don't go soon I'll end up being late and you know how annoying my brother can be, especially when you piss him off," he chuckled lightly as he saw Wendy ponder the thought for a second and nod considerately.

"Ok then, just don't stay out for too long, you might get sick!"

"I won't," with one last smirk he waved his hand at her before turning and walking back down the path and heading in the direction of the hockey rink.

Wendy sighed happily as she opened the door and collapsed on top of the couch. Her mother saw her and smiled, pleased to see her daughter happy for the first time in quite a while.

"Did you have a nice time, hun?"

"Yeah, yeah I did," her face reddened slightly as she thought of a 'certain person' and with that she turned her body to lean her head on the edge of the chair facing the TV and contentedly lay down in that position for the rest of the night, her huge grin not leaving her face.

Elsewhere, a 'certain person' was walking down a cold path with similar thoughts lurking in his mind, although he kept trying to rationalize them, attempting to convince himself nothing had happened and that he was going crazy. He was alone; he and Kenny had left Kyle and Wendy earlier because their homes were in opposite directions, and he had just stopped at the blonde's home. Kenny offered him inside, but as usual Cartman declined, telling him 'I can't associate myself with your poor ass for too many hours in a row, or it might rub off on me,' to which he received a middle finger and a door shut in his face. He just shrugged his shoulders and carried on walking on his own, his gloved hands pushed deep into his pockets as his thoughts competed for his highest amount of concentration.

"What the hell am I thinking, it's fucking _Wendy. _We've always had problems; we hate each other. Anything I felt was hatred, obviously. She's Stan's- well actually I guess Kahl's- bitch now anyway, so why would it be worth my time thinking _I_ had a shot? No, I need to stop thinking about this, it's just gonna screw me over, plus why would I _want _a girlfriend anyway? They're just naggy and damn expensive is what they are. I mean I don't need all that commitment crap, I'm young and free; no bitch is holding me down and turning me into an asshole like the he-hippie. Yeah, screw her, I'll just forget about her. Yeah…" he exhaled noisily as he angrily muttered to himself, his visible breath escaping his lips in small clouds in front of his bitterly cold face.

He tried to forget, but it didn't work. She tried to make sense of it, but it didn't work. In the end, they both just decided to accept it happened and see where things went from there.

Over the next few weeks, no matter how much he denied it to himself, there was an enormous amount of sexual tension building between Cartman and Wendy. Neither of them spoke of it to anybody, but occasionally when they caught each other's glances, it would be one of the best feelings they had ever had. Their stomachs would flutter and their hearts would beat at an upbeat tempo rhythmically as the familiar rush would catch up with them once more and they would be in their own private little world for a few moments before snapping out of it and carrying on with what they were doing. This wasn't helped by the fact that Wendy seemed to be hanging out with the guys almost every day due to the fact that she felt like they were the only ones that could make her happy right now, and they were more than happy to oblige, even though Cartman still tried to convince himself he didn't want her around and that he must be getting seriously ill because he felt so light headed all the time. The more Wendy hung out with the boys, the more confused both her and Cartman felt about their feelings. She didn't understand what was happening to her, especially as Cartman showed no outward signs of having feelings for her other than the occasional glance, and he was just feeling more hopeless and dejected about why he was 'getting seriously ill, brah'.

After a while of these mystifying thoughts swirling around with no release and without any prospect of something happening upon the horizon, Cartman went against all his initial instincts and had a change of heart. Well, it was more like him accepting what he had known in his heart all along and he decided that he finally wanted to do something about it. He didn't know how or what or what result he wanted from it, though. After a confrontation from Kenny, Kyle had been able to eventually convince the guys that there was nothing going on between him and Wendy, which was amazing news for Cartman, even though he didn't let anybody know about it of course. He wasn't sure if he should pursue his feelings or find some way of getting them out of his head, but after hours of deliberation with himself, he realized that he had been trying to ignore the thoughts for weeks now and so if he was going to be able to do that, it was going to be a near impossible task for him.

It was when he was thinking about how he was going to do something that he realised he had a perfect opportunity to do so coming up really soon. This opportunity was Wendy's birthday. She was going to be turning fifteen, although if you knew her you probably would have assumed she was much older due to her effervescent high-sprits, her elegance and her intelligence.

She was often one of the only people who could get a level head in the face of adversity and those kinds of days came often in South Park. Just like Kyle, she tried to come up with solutions to things as quickly as possible, whilst making sure everybody was ok and safe at the same time. She had her job with the Mayor for a reason; she was the one who came up with the scheme to get young people more involved in how the town was run. The kids were the only ones who ever seemed to come up with solutions to problems anyway, even if they were usually the ones who had something to do with it happening in the first place. The adults were usually just extremely unhelpful in these bad situations and just ran around like headless chickens and so it isn't too hard to believe that if the children didn't have some way of helping the Mayor run the town it probably wouldn't still be standing.

Cartman spent his entire morning searching intricately throughout the mall looking for the perfect birthday gift to give to her. He started his hunt early enough that he could spend quite a few hours searching without running into anybody he knew. If any of the guys from school knew he was looking for a present for a chick that wasn't his long-standing girlfriend, it would be like putting a sign on his head basically asking for them to rip on him for the rest of his life.

As it approached noon, the fat-boy was beginning to feel more anxious at the thought of being caught and considered giving up and returning home. Her birthday was on the next day, but he had already started planning on things he could put together himself at home, hoping the home-made feel of the gift would appeal to her somehow. That was until he saw it. The glistening light caught his eye as he was swiftly making his way towards the exit of the mall. It flashed through the glass with a mischievous twinkle as if to say 'Look at me, look at me!' whilst ushering Cartman over to it. He obediently followed it as he headed into a quaint little shop in the corner, one he had never even realized that existed before that day. He quickly hurried into it after seeing that there was nobody inside and that there was a group of giggling girls he vaguely recognized as going to his school that he was more than happy to avoid.

He walked over to what he learned was a small silver figurine of bear with the South Park town flag on its chest. He took a moment to look around his surroundings, and realised he was in what appeared to be a souvenir shop filled to the brim with lots of different types of knick-knacks and mementoes that represented the town. It made sense that he had never known it was there, he had lived there all his life, and he didn't need anything to remind him of that. He fumbled with the bear and realised that it rushed memories of his childhood back to him. Back when the town was as parted in their usual attempts to make a decision on something, in this case what the flag should look like and if it should change or not. Back when he had been partnered with Wendy. Back when she had kissed him. And back when she simply walked away. Back to Stan.

He shook his head furiously, trying to regain his composure. Stan was gone, too busy being a super jack-ass, and so it was his chance now to win her back. There was obviously a reason she had kissed him in the first place, and he assumed that those same thoughts were back in her head now, the only difference being that he was going to have to make the first move this time.

He delicately stroked the smooth metallic surface of the trinket as it shone in the light flooding in through the window. It was very small, a lot smaller than most ornaments that you'd expect to see dotted around some bodies home or wherever they decided to place it. He had already decided this was what he wanted to get; it was a perfect reminder of their lingering feelings for one another and plus it was quite cute at the same time. Well, he assumed that's what a girl would think anyway. The bear's face was cheery and its small eyes starred back at the boy with a look of optimism. Yeah, this was the gift. But what was he gonig to do with it? He didn't want her to just leave it in her room and lose it after two days because it's so small it wouldn't be easily recognised as out of place if it fell and so it just ends up rolled down behind her bed or under her desk. He wanted it to have some kind of connection to her so that she always knew where it was.

That was when he had what he thought was a stroke of genius.

He quickly paid for the trinket, not fussing about the costly price tag attached to it and rushed out of the store and towards the bus stop. On his journey home he ran over what he wanted to say and how he wanted to present the gift to Wendy the next day, carefully planning it out so that it fitted in with his current arrangements for the day. He, Kyle and Kenny had decided that they were going to surprise the dark haired girl and take her out for the day as she had been planning on just staying at home like she usually did. She didn't see the point in celebrating her birthday usually, claiming that 'you age by a day every day, you don't just skip 365 days of your life and age one year in one go, so why should she celebrate being one year older, when she in actual fact wasn't any older than the day before?', however the guys completely ignored that and thought it would be nice to let her enjoy her birthday for once.

They were going to meet up outside her house and burst in with a joint gift from all of them and then drag her out of the house and go to wherever she wanted to go and they would pay for it. It was a poorly thought out plan actually, they had only come up with it the day before, and not really agreed on any details about anything apart from just meet, greet and treat her. It was simple though, and so it was easy for Cartman to manipulate to it match his own plans. He knew the gift that they had already gotten for her; they had bought that before they decided to surprise her, and so played that in with the gift he had just bought. Before he had time to think about the rest of the arrangements, he had reached his stop and darted home to perform his own little bit of D.I.Y.

The next day, Cartman was pacing down the path, bolts of angst and adrenaline rushing through his body, his head spinning and his stomach over-run by hyperactive butterflies. He held in his chubby fingers a small purple box wrapped carefully with silver ribbon and tied into a petite bow on the top. He wanted it to stay in perfect condition as he quickly trotted towards Wendy's home and so steered clear of pushing it into his pockets as he would usually.

The guys, minus Stan of course, had planned on meeting each other around the corner from her house at two o'clock and walking there together, however Cartman had decided he was going to get there ten minutes earlier and give her his gift in privacy, once again being apprehensive of being ripped on as well as the fear of being rejected would be even higher if the other two were around to witness it, so the conclusion of getting there prematurely wasn't a hard one to make.

He took a deep breath as he saw Wendy's house come into view and walked confidently up to the door. After a few seconds of hesitation, he knocked quickly on the door before he could allow him to psych himself out. He waited anxiously for a few moments but was disappointed when he saw Wendy's mother open the door. She was beaming happily and swiftly ushered him into the house. She had seen Cartman a few times before when the group came to see Wendy and ask if she wanted to hang out with them, and so unlike most adults in South Park she didn't have any negative thoughts about him and so he actually tried his best to keep it that way.

"Good afternoon, Eric! How wonderful to see you! Where are the others?"

"Hello, Mrs Testaburger. The guys are coming quite soon, I just got here a few minutes early. Can I see Wendy? I have a present for her," he gestured down to the neat little package in his hand.

"Well isn't that nice? Come with me, she's in the garden."

Cartman followed her through to the back of the house, "What is she doing in the garden?"

"She's out there with your friend Stan. He came and apologized to her for their breaking up, and explained why and I'm pretty sure they've made up. He's such a nice boy, isn't it wonderful?" her smile grew wider as she spoke, not noticing when the fat-boy stopped walking along with her.

As soon as Stan's name passed her lips, Cartman felt his heart seize up in his chest, and listened intensely at the rest of what she was saying. As soon as she finished speaking, his mind suddenly blurred over. He staggered through the kitchen and whipped the back door open as he felt his heart drop and then completely self-combust inside of him.

He glared in fury and misery as he indeed saw Stan sitting there, his arms wrapped tightly around Wendy's waist. They were sitting on the brim of her old tire swing, their legs both dangling down through the middle and they were facing each other. Well actually, Stan was looking at her with big eyes as her head was dipped down leaning into his chest. Cartman watched as the dark haired boy lifted up her chin gently to look at him and then he softly pressed his lips against hers. Cartman felt as if his whole world was crumbling down around him. Once again it felt like time had stopped, but this time was different. It wasn't like when it was him who was gazing into Wendy's round hazel eyes, his heart racing, when everything was perfect. This time it was Stan, the traitor who had gone and left them all and who had obviously just come grovelling back to her. The fat-boy could feel any last morsels of his heart stop beating completely, an exact opposite of before. He tried to speak, but his voice was completely choked up. Time was still frozen as he observed their never ending kiss and felt as though he was going to puke right there, right then. But he didn't, that was Stan's thing.

It wasn't until they pulled away and Stan turned his head towards the house, a massive grin plastered onto his face, that time started once more, however now things were happening so fast it was hard to tell what was going on.

"Cartman? What the hell are you doing here?" Stan's face turned to one of confusion as he saw the boy standing in the door way.

He didn't get a verbal response. Instead he got a double flip-off as both Stan and Wendy watched him throw the birthday present into the dirt, punch the door with a clenched fist and storm back through the house. He could vaguely hear Wendy calling after him, her voice high-pitched and sounding quite guilty, as well as Stan telling her to just let him leave. Obviously she listened to him because as he pushed past Mrs Testaburger and sprinted furiously to the front door, there seemed to be no attempt to get him back. He stumbled on the door step as his mind clouded over and the back of his eyes began to prickle. His breaths were short and fast and he became quite dizzy, but this didn't stop his dash down the pavement.

It wasn't long until he could hear the familiar chuckling of Kyle and Kenny heading in his direction. He didn't acknowledge their presence at first, even though he could both see and hear them coming. He just carried on tearing down the road until he could feel himself being grabbed and stopped.

"Cartman? What are you doing? What's wrong?" It was Kyle, his voice sounding concerned, although there also sounded like there was a slight hint of amusement, although that didn't last for long as both he and Kenny observed the look of anguish on his face.

"This is why! This is why I don't care! This is why I don't care about anything, Kahl!" his voice choked as he weakly punched at Kyle's chest with his trembling fists.

Kenny attempted to drag him off of the redhead, but he didn't succeed. Instead he just kept beating at Kyle who just stood and took it. He let Cartman get the brute of his anger out and then grabbed at his arms and shook him violently. He stared at the other boy's eyes; glassed over with streams of tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Cartman?" his voice was soft as he lessened his grip on the larger boy's arms and waited patiently for him to respond, "What happened?"

"She... She..." he tried to get the words out, but he couldn't.

"She? You mean Wendy?" Kenny butted in, looking at the direction the boy had just come running from.

He nodded slowly as the blonde and the redhead exchanged nervous glances.

"What's happened? Is she ok?" Kyle's voice still sounded worried as he questioned.

"Yeah, she's fuckin peachy! Her and the other fucking hippie, they're fucking amazing apparently!" the anger in his voice crept up once more as the other two boys felt more and more confused.

"Wait, huh? You mean Stan? Where is he?"

"He's busy friggin groping that stupid bitch!"

"They're back together?" There was a twang of discontent in his voice as the words passed his lips, which made Cartman stop and look at Kyle standing in front of him.

"Yeah..."

"After all he did to her? She still went back to him?"

"What? You didn't want her to? He's your best friend, why wouldn't you want him to get back with her?"

"I know... but I just don't want her to get hurt again, and I don't want him to regret getting back together with her because I know what he's like..."

"Well they're back to-fucking-gether now, and there's probably nothing you can do now to stop it," he could feel the tears welling back up in his eyes.

"But..." Kenny looked puzzled as he looked at Cartman standing limp in Kyle's hands, "Why are you so pissed?"

"I..."

"Did you...? Did you like her? As in..._like_ her?" Kyle sounded shocked as he watched Cartman stand in silence, his face turning crimson, "Since when?"

"I don't want to talk about it! It was a stupid mistake, a lapse in judgement. I was just confused, just leave it, Kahl! Just run off to Stan and you can all live your perfect lovey-dovey lives!" he pulled away from his grasp and started off down the road.

"Cartman!" Kenny called out after him.

"Just leave me alone! Both of you! Don't follow me, just go away!"

The two boys watched as the other stomped down the road, cursing loudly to himself as he did.

"So...What do we do now?" Kenny sighed loudly, turning to look at Kyle.

"We go and see Stan and Wendy," Kyle stated matter-of-factly as he grabbed the blonde's arm and started dragging him towards her house in haste.

* * *

"I still have it, you know," she whispered quietly.

"What?"

"The bracelet. I still wear it," she sat up straight and pushed the sleeve of her jacket back, revealing a shiny bracelet with a small trinket hanging from it.

"Really? Well... I guess I'm glad you liked it," he fiddled playfully with the charm that was dangling and twinkling in the light of the sun, "I don't remember this thing though. Who was that from?"

"Urm... well Cartman did... I found it in my garden when he came over on my birthday."

"In the garden?"

"He must have thrown it down when he saw Stan..."

The bear charm was attached to the silver bracelet that Kyle and Kenny had eventually remembered to give to her on that day. It fitted loosely around her thin wrist and the bear was hooked into one of the links. It had a small round hole in one of its ears that Cartman had made the afternoon he had found it to allow it to be fastened to the piece of jewellery that he knew they were going to give to her. That way she'd be able to carry it around with her all the time, and that's what she did.

"Oh... Does he know you wear it? Stan, I mean."

"Well, he may have seen it before, actually it's most likely he has because I rarely take it off," her face tinted slightly, "but he's never asked about it or who it's from," she sighed.

"It's probably better that way... I don't know how happy he'd be at that, we don't need them getting back to being at each other's throats all the time... At least they were back to speaking terms."

"I guess... but it's all my fault they hated each other... and now they both hate _me_."

"Wendy, I already told you, nobody hates you, nothing that's happened is your fault," he wrapped his arm around her shoulder kindly as she cupped her face with her hands.

"But I was the one that he lashed out at first. I was the one who called the police. So I was the reason he's run off and... and..." a single tear fell silently down her pale cheek.

"We're going to find him."

"But what if we don't?"

"We're going to get Cartman to drive us to all the most likely places he'll be and we_ are_ going to find him."

"How do we know where he's likely to be?"

"We'll just have to plan that out," Kyle looked down at his watch, "We still have quite a bit of time before first period is over, so let's just think about it."

After that, the two separated from each other's hold and set to scheduling all the places they could think of that Stan would go to. It was pretty hard because most of the places either included friends or family and they knew that he wasn't at any of those places already.

"This is _hopeless_, Kyle! We're never going to find him!"

"Wendy, calm down! We _are_ going to find him. I _promise_."

**A/N: So I hope you liked this chapter, it was pretty hard for me to write, but I think it came out alright in the end. It was tough to try to get inside Cartman's head, but the concept of Candy has always intruged me as to how it would work. To be honest, I think they're both too stubborn to ever admit it if they liked each other, plus I think that it would be hard for the guys(especially Stan for obvious reasons) to accept it. But then again, I guess it's like a hetro version of Kyman... so I guess that's why I have a soft spot for it?**

**Plus, Kyle and Wendy are super close, I think it's adorable to be honest, they've always seemed like they would be good friends, but because Stan is always there they don't interact much with each other.  
And Kyle's paternal instincts are just AMAZEBALLS. So YAY :D**

**He's a cutie.**

** Hehe ^.^**

**Oh and sorry it's so long again, I couldn't help myself, I just got pretty into it after I got into the flow of things...**

**Next shouldn't take too long to be up either, it should be up before the end of the week at the very latest.**

**Thanks for reading anyway, don't be shy to review either? :D**

**XXX**


	11. The Den

"Hell no," Cartman smashed his locker shut as he glared back at the redhead standing beside him.

"Please Cartman, just hear me out-"

"I've heard enough, Kahl, I'm not helping you get that stupid sonuvabitch back, he can stay and rot out there for all I care," his voice was dark as he lifted his backpack over his shoulder and started to walk away.

"I know you've had your problems, but he's still your friend, and has been since pre-school, you can't really believe that you wouldn't care at all if something bad happened to him!"

"You know what?" he stopped and turned back around, "I _would_ care actually. I would care _so much_. So much that the mere sight of him would make my heart wrench just seeing him in whatever state he may be in. So no, I can't help you because it would just kill me to see him like that," he sneered.

"But if we don't find him and something bad happens won't you feel bad knowing that you could have potentially stopped it?" his voice was quiet as he looked at the fat boy with pleading eyes.

"No."

"But-"

"Kahl, I'm not helping you and the stupid ass she-hippie to help him get back. If he cared so much about getting back he would do it himself. I think you should just forget about him and carry on life without him."

"Wait, 'she-hippie'? As in Wendy?"

"Well what other bitch in this school is a bigger hippie than her?" his voice was patronizing as he attempted to turn around once more, but his arm was caught by the small redhead.

Kyle paused for a moment as he analyzed the expression on Cartman's face, although he couldn't really work it out due to the forced look of apathy plastered over it, "Why do you think this has something to do with Wendy?"

"I'm not an idiot, Kahl," he stated as he dragged his arm away, "I saw you sneak off with her this morning."

"I…"

"Why should I help her get her precious boyfriend back? If they were truly _in love_," he spat the words as if he were disgusted by them, "then he wouldn't have left and she would know where he was anyway."

"Cartman, _please_. You know I wouldn't ask you if I wasn't desperate. You're the only person with a car that we can ask," his voice was quiet as he asked pleadingly.

"Why? Loads of kids in this school have cars, ask one of them. They'd probably be thrilled to have an excuse to skip school."

"But they don't really get what's happened to him… I don't want too many people involved; it'll just make getting him back harder. And you love skipping school! Come on, Cartman _pleaseee_!" he was to a point where he felt like he needed to beg, and he rarely ever got to a point where he did this, especially not to Cartman, that's for sure.

"But you're forgetting one simple fact Jew; I don't _want _to help you. And I definitely don't want to help the hippies."

"I know you still care about her," Kyle gazed in wonder at the change in expression on Cartman's face as the words unconsciously crossed his lips.

His face was now a mix of both shock and anger, "Fuck you, Kahl."

"I know it's hard, but we _need_ you."

"You don't know anything Kahl! People always ask me why I'm such a stubborn self-centered asshole, and its reasons like _that_ that make me that way. As soon as I feel any positive feelings towards anything, it just gets taken away from me. So I don't give a crap, Kahl, I don't give a flying fuck!"

"She still wears the bracelet, Cartman. And she has the charm on it. _Your_ charm. She said she rarely takes it off. Do you think that if it really meant nothing to her she would still wear it?" his voice was still soft as the larger boy's stopped and his face softened too.

"Really?" he whispered quietly.

"Yeah, dude."

The boys stopped and stared at each other, their eyes transfixed as if they were in a telepathic conversation right in the middle of the hall as other people rushed past them to get to their own lessons. It took a while for Cartman to break away and start fumbling in his jacket pocket.

"You've got an hour," he pushed past Kyle and headed for the front doors of the school as the redhead broke into a wide smile which wasn't even reduced by Cartman grumbling, "You're such a stupid shithead, you fucking Jew…"

They headed with haste to meet Wendy at the front door who was standing quietly in by the edge of the hallway but a small smile spread across he own face as she saw them coming. Just as she opened her mouth to say something to them, she was interrupted by a familiar chirpy voice coming from the opposite direction.

"Hey, Cartman, Kyle, wassup?" Kenny came bounding from around the corner behind them and let his arms fall on top of the boys' shoulders, his own body squeezing in between them.

"Um, nothing Kenny, but we're in a bit of a rush to go somewhere so we'll catch up with you later, ok?"

"Rush to go where? Don't you have lessons now?" Kenny looked down at his old watch and back towards Kyle, their faces uncomfortably close to each others' before he realized and pulled back slightly.

"Get off me, Kinny," Cartman growled as he pushed away from them both, leaving the blonde hooked around the redhead.

"We're just… We've got to… Look we'll tell you at some later point, we just really have to go," Kyle tried to pull away as well but he was held tightly.

"Dude, what are you doing that you can't tell me about?" his voice sounded concerned but his face suddenly switched to his usual perverted grin, "You going off for some top secret butt-pounding, eh? Don't worry your secret's safe with me boys," he sniggered as he saw the angry faces of both of his friends.

"Shut the fuck up, Kinny!"

"Yeah,asshole! If you really want to know, we're going to find Stan. But don't say anything to anyone, and if you can cover for us dude," he pulled away quickly whilst Kenny considered what they had just said.

"You two? Like alone? Why? He doesn't even like Stan!" he nudged Cartman in the rib as the boy grumbled back at him, "And why weren't you going to tell me?"

"Cause we don't want you there being an ass!" Cartman sighed as he tried to pull Kyle's arm to get him to start moving.

"I know you have lessons, and you've already missed enough as it is," Kyle shrugged and let the fat-boy lead him away, just for his other arm to be caught by the blonde's hands.

"Well I don't give a fuck, I'm coming with you. He's my friend too, and he's more my friend than fat-asses anyway."

"Don't push me, you poor piece of crap!"

"Guys, shut up! We've got to go, _now_! Fine Kenny, you can come, but you better do something productive instead of just making Cartman more bad-tempered than he already is…"

"Damn straight..."

"Fine, whatever, let's go! Whoop, whoop, road trip!" Kenny laughed in glee.

"Be quiet, Kenny! We can't get caught, so let's just _go_!"

Cartman sighed and dragged their newfound human chain out of the front door, where Wendy silently followed after them, unbeknownst to the giggling blonde. Cartman had noticed her there, but didn't bother to acknowledge her presence there any further. He pulled them along and stopped to let go of Kyle's arm as they reached the front gates. Luckily today was one of the days where Cartman had chosen to drive to school, partly because Kyle had asked him if he could bring them because he didn't know if he could face going on the bus for some reason. He hadn't put up much of a fight actually as he loved showing off his incredible car to the Jew as well as loving having out-standing favors to him so that he could use them against him in future situations.

Even outside of the large boy's even larger ego, it was more than fair to say that Cartman's car was incredible. Actually that was an understatement. It was 'frickin' amazing'! It was a fifth generation Chevy Camaro that was bright yellow, made to look like a replica of Bumblebee in the Transformers movies. It had black leather interiors and was pristinely clean at all times; it was Cartman's pride and joy. He had gone out to apply to get his driver's licence on his 16th birthday, not wasting any time whatsoever to have his own means of transport to get around; however he had been planning to get this car ever since he had seen the first film. It automatically appealed to him and so he made it one of his many life's goals to get one, however he hadn't anticipated the speed at which he would.

Due to the whole 'We accidentally infected you with the AIDS virus' incident back when they were kids, the Cartmans had been given a hefty sum of money in compensation from the hospital (which was one of the many reasons that Hells Pass was a terrible place nowadays, although it always had been in all fairness). Cartman himself hadn't been informed of this until the day of his 16th birthday when his mother could no longer hide it from him. After his initial anger at her keeping it from him, he quickly became overjoyed at the prospect of having so much money, which was shortly dented once more by his mother forcing him to save a lot of it for college. After they had decided on a set amount of money he could keep, he raced out and bought his dream car, without as much as a second to think about it, although even if he had stopped, he would have gotten it anyway. It had been pretty hard to get one, as seen as they were pretty rare, especially in an area like South Park so he had to go to the best dealership he could find all the way in Denver and even then it took a long time to get the paint job done to perfection. After a while though, he was finally in possession of what was the most amazing thing in the world to him, and set to splurging a lot of the rest of his money on random items but mainly just Xbox games and then saving up the rest.

Kyle had had the 'honor' of being let in the incredible car quite often actually, despite Cartman's relentless insistence that if he kept letting him in it would let in too many 'Jew Germs' but he wouldn't actually stop him from getting in at any point. The redhead did feel quite privileged to be allowed in though, mainly because of the cars superiority over any other car he had been in, as well as when they were in public places when he would see envious but approving glances from people looking at them which made him feel pretty special.

"Kahl, get in the damn car!" Kyle's daydreams were cut short by an irritated looking Cartman towering above him.

"Urm… Yeah, sorry," he quickly jumped into the backseat of the car with Kenny scrambling in after him.

Kyle looked at him awkwardly as Cartman's eyebrow quirked and then both brows furrowed in annoyance, "Switch."

"What?" Kenny looked up at the fat-boy who was gesturing for him to get out.

"Get out and get in the front."

"Why? You can't bear to be without me? Or Do you just not trust me next to your dear friend, Kahl?" he waggled his own eyebrows with a mischievous smirk as he squeezed the Jew's knee tightly, to which the latter boy squirmed slightly.

Cartman was getting visibly infuriated and grabbed at Kenny's jacket and pulled him back out of the car and shoved him in the direction of Wendy who was standing at a distance from them and was biting down on her lip uneasily. She gasped a little as she first saw the blonde boy hurling towards her but put her hands out to stop him from falling over onto the concrete. He looked a little dizzy but as he regained his composure he looked down wide eyed as he stared at the girl holding onto him.

"W-Wendy? Er… Hi, dude… Wassup?"

Wendy opened her mouth to speak once more but was again interrupted before she had the chance to.

"In," Cartman barely gave her a fleeting glance, just vaguely pointing in her direction as he pointed to the back seat with his thumb and walked to the driver's side of the car before flopping into the seat and slamming the door shut with a loud sigh.

Without negotiation she quickly jumped into the back as Kenny fixed the seat and hopped into the front quietly, now understanding why his friends were so on-edge as the memories of last summer came flooding back to him. They all stayed silent as they buckled their seatbelts and stared out of their windows. It took them a few moments to realize that they weren't actually moving.

"Like, not to sound patronizing or anything, but aren't we meant to be going somewhere?" Kenny stated quietly.

"Well if I haven't been told where to go, I'm not driving around and wasting more gas on that hippy than I already need to."

Wendy visibly winced when she heard his harsh voice but instead of speaking she just turned to face Kyle and settled backwards into her seat. She watched as he pulled a small scrap of paper out of his jeans pocket.

"Ok, well we made a list of places we think he would most likely go; after all of the places we know his parents have already looked in. So the closest place to here is Starks Pond."

He didn't get a response but was relieved when he felt the car start to tremble with power and then smoothly make its way out of the gates. They had done a quick scan to make sure nobody was around and then sped down the road in the direction of the pond.

The journey was short, but the tension in the car was quite high. It was as if everybody wanted to say something, just to break it, but nobody dared to. Soon enough, they had reached their destination and everybody was more than happy to get out of the car and out into the fresh air the forested area was surrounded by.

After a bit of hesitation, Wendy took a few steps away from the car, but quickly scrambled back to stand by Kyle's side, her eyes darting around every time she heard a noise. The redhead just sighed, realizing that she was probably frightened due to the fact that it was at the pond that Stan had hit her and so she was rightfully a bit on-edge at that moment in time. The group split up and started calling out for Stan, to which they got no response. They looked behind the abundance of trees and bushes but quickly became aggravated when they were being ignored.

"Kyle! Kyle, come here for a sec," Kenny was gesturing for the boy to come over, and as the Jewish boy did he patted the Wendy on the pack gently before running off.

"What? Have you found something over there?"

"Well no, not yet, but I had a good idea- we should go to The Den. If he was going anywhere near here he would definitely make a stop there at least."

"Oh, yeah! I completely forgot about The Den! Yeah, come on let's go," Kyle started to break into a run towards a crowd of trees before hearing his name being called out behind him.

"Kyle? Where are you going? You… please don't leave me here on my own…" she glanced over at Cartman who was kicking a rock around by the edge of the water, looking down and mumbling something along the lines of 'he's probably drowning down there' and laughing sinisterly.

"I'll be right back, Wendy, just stay here, it won't be for long. We've just got to go check something."

"Check what? Do you know where Stan is? Where is he?"

"Well no, not yet, but we're just going to carry on looking somewhere else."

"Why can't I come too?"

The boys looked at each other skeptically, before the tall teen shook his head, "Dude, no, she can't. She's a _chick_."

"But… Ok, well why don't you go with Cartman, and I stay here and look with Wendy?"

Kenny stopped and thought it over, "You do know that if Stan actually _is_ there, if you're not there to sort things they'll probably smash each other's skulls in before we can get back?"

Kyle looked thoughtful for a second and then frowned, "Well what else can we do?" they looked back at Wendy who was cradling her arms against her chest, her face pale as she glanced back and forth around at her surroundings.

"Just take her. No hanging around, just in and out," the two teens looked surprised as they heard Cartman's bellowing voice coming from the side of the pond; his head still down as he picked up the rock and skimmed it across the face of the water.

"You sure?"

"Well it's not really ours anymore is it? So just hurry up, Jew, or I'm leaving without you," he murmured loud enough for them to hear.

With a quick nod, Kyle grabbed hold of Wendy's hand and pulled her through the trees. It was a complicated route, most of it with them having to push back hanging branches and leaves, but eventually they reached another clearing, this one much bigger than the one in their school that they had been in earlier. It was completely sealed off from anywhere else and the trees hung over it so thickly that barely any light could be seen through it, only a dim glow trickling through the odd gap. It had taken them a while to get there, and so she was a little out of breath anyway, but now that they were, she was lost for words. She tried to open her mouth to speak, but once again she was stood like a fish, her mouth opening and closing subconsciously.

"Woah… W-what is this place?"

"This," the redhead gestured proudly in the direction of her vision, "is The Den."

Before them what appeared to be a large wooden shack, adorned with various leaves and dead berries. It was massive and took up most of the clearing, although it didn't seem expertly made. It looked sturdy enough, but it had a very 'homemade' feel to it due to the differently cut logs and the excess nails pushed into the sides. She stared at it in awe as she touched the side of it, half expecting it to fall into a heap on the ground, but when it didn't she let out a sigh of relief and stood back again to admire it.

"Wanna look inside?" Kyle smiled broadly as he turned and pointed her in the direction of the opposite end of the structure.

Their hands were still clamped together, so he walked her casually to the hidden end of The Den, to reveal that one side of it was missing a wall completely and instead just had a thick stick dug into the ground and through the top of the cabin acting as a pillar to keep it held up.

When he realized the confused look on Wendy's face, he just nonchalantly shrugged, "We were running out of wood, and we didn't want to cut down any more trees."

"Wait… You built this?" she sounded surprised but also impressed.

"Well me and the rest of the guys in our 6th grade class, yeah,"

"So this has been here all this time? And nobody knows it's here?"

"Well some people do, but not many," he let go of her and went and sat in one of the many chairs littered inside.

There were many different types of seats scattered inside The Den; big ones, small ones, soft ones, hard ones. They were all arranged around a large make-shift wooden table made of a large oblong plank hammered into a thick tree stump in the ground. There were two clear sides to the table, the top end, near the middle wall had five various seats around it and then there was a bit of a gap and then the rest of the chairs were arranged around the bottom end of the table next to where the missing wall should have been.

"So… how did you get all this stuff here?"

"We built the actual Den from the trees we cut down. They were getting old and were dying anyway, and nobody comes here so we just thought, 'Hey let's make a Den; that'll be sweet.' And well we all brought our own chairs here; we tried to build some as well, but as I said before we were running out of wood and they were pretty uncomfortable," he pointed at a handcrafted wooden chair which appeared to have been sanded down quite a bit, but was still rough and seemed like it would give you blisters if you sat on it, "and Cartman 'generously' offered that one to Kenny, since he doesn't have any spare chairs lying around in his house and not enough cash to go and buy one. He's kinda grown out of it now, obviously, but we don't come here that often anymore so it doesn't matter much."

"So do you all have your own assigned seats or something?" she nodded her head approvingly.

"I guess, yeah," Kyle watched as Wendy slowly walked around the table a few times, before settling down on the seat across from where he was sitting, "That's Butters' seat."

She looked down at the small turquoise seat and smiled slightly, "Cool. So am I right to assume you're sitting in your own seat?"

"Yep, this is mine," he tapped the armrests of his green chair fondly, before pointing around the table, "the top of the table is Cartman's," he scoffed as gestured to the big beanbag chair that was directly to his left, "You're in Butters', although he never sat there most of the time actually, he was normally on look-out duty, and the one next to you is Kenny's."

"Wait, what's look-out duty?"

"You know, look-out duty. Looking to see if anybody is coming," he motioned towards a small hole in the wall behind where Cartman's seat was, "So we can change conversation or something if somebody who wasn't in on it was coming so they wouldn't know what we were doing."

"In on what?"

Kyle looked slightly panicked for a second, "Urm, nothing, nothing… So anyway, the other top of the table was Craig with Clyde to his right, Tweek to his left and Token next to him. Then the rest of the guys are just scattered in between, I don't remember the full order, they weren't here as often as we were."

The Den. The one place in the whole of South Park that was _theirs_. There were no adults around to boss them around and to tell them what to do. This was a place where they ruled supreme and had complete power. Well, apart from Cartman and Craig trying to claim superiority, but that was besides the point.

Wendy looked amused as she listened to the arrangements, "So was this like your secret meeting place then?"

"I guess you could call it that,"

"And what would you talk about?"

"Urm, nothing really, just, you know, stuff…"

"Girls?"

Kyle looked thoughtful for a moment, "Actually no, to be honest."

"Then what?"

The boys would often meet up there, sometimes planned and sometimes just by coincidence, and plan schemes and pranks with each other and find different ways of terrorizing the people around town. It was where they came up with their most genius ideas and also where they came up with their worst. Either way, they would usually always end up back there in the end and just start from scratch with new things to do. Sometimes they would just chill out there; it was relaxing to just sit back and not have to worry about things for a while, until they found something new to do.

"Hey, you're not even supposed to be here, Cartman'll cut off my balls if he finds out I've been telling you all this stuff."

"Why can't I be here?"

"'Cause you're a chick," Kyle shrugged casually, "No chicks allowed," he pointed to a large inscription crudely carved into one of the walls with those exact words across it.

Wendy just shrugged back, "Well I feel privileged then," she got up off her chair and paid closer attention to what else was on the walls.

She had been fully absorbed by the complex seating system to even glance at the walls, but now that she had, she couldn't help but smile broadly. Kyle followed her gaze and then leaned his cheek onto his fist as she observed the gallery of photos surrounding them. There were many pictures of different groups of the boys; some the guys and some Craig's gang, some a mixture of the two and one big one with their entire class.

"Woah…" she carefully surveyed each photo in turn, not knowing what to say.

"Yeah, we know it's gay, but we wanted to put them up, as like reminders. Inspiration. Obviously nobody else was meant to see them."

"They're adorable!"

"Don't call them that, that totally ruins them!"

"No it doesn't! I remember when you guys were that young; you were so cute!"

Kyle sighed, "Well if you love looking at us when we were younger, there's one of you somewhere,"

"What?" her face looked horrified, much to the amusement of the redhead.

"Haha, don't worry it's not just you, it's a group picture from when we were in… 5th grade? Yeah, I think it was 5th," he got up and joined her standing in front of said picture, her face visibly cringing.

"Oh my gosh, Kyle take it down! I look horrible!"

"Hell no! That's been there for years and it's not coming down at any point soon! It was one of the first we put up actually. Don't worry, even if you did look horrible, which you don't by the way, anybody who's going to see it, has already seen it plenty of times already," he chuckled lightly as he saw her cringe once more.

"Urgh! But wait, if you don't come here much anymore, who does? I mean it looks pretty well looked after for something that's been left alone for years."

"It doesn't get touched by weather or anything so it's pretty much safe from anything like that and, well, we decided to let Ike and his friends come out here when they wanted to, but Cartman threatened that if they change or move anything that he was going to punch them, so they don't come as often as we used to. We've even got nails in the bottom of the seats and stuff so they can't be moved or taken away."

"He likes things to be the way he wants, doesn't he…" she sighed quietly.

Kyle watched Wendy as she turned to another photo that was of Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny in business suits whilst being temporary young-ambassadors for the town. They had been around eleven or twelve and had been assigned the task of going to a few meetings with other kids in Park County to try and makes some changes to how things were run around there, but they ended up just ruining the whole event and in the end no changes were made at all- well apart from a large dent in the local government's budget due to damages, that is.

"You need to sort things with him. Cartman, I mean."

"Sort what?" she ducked away from his gaze, knowing full well what he was talking about.

"You need to talk about what happened that summer."

"Why? It's not like it will make any difference. If anything, it will make him leave us stranded here."

"Well you don't have to do it right now; it just needs to be done soon. Everybody can feel the tension between you; you need to sort it out."

"There isn't any tension…"her voice trailed off as she walked across to the other side of the room.

"Dude, you know there is, and it's been over a year now."

"Tell him to talk to _me_, I've tried talking to him but he won't listen!"

"You're forgetting that Cartman is a stubborn fuck. Don't give him the option to listen, just tell him straight up."

"Yeah, but how can I talk to him if he won't come within five feet of me?"

"As I said, don't give him the option."

They stood in silence for a while as they observed more photos until Wendy suddenly spoke up, "Where's Stan's seat?"

"What?"

"You said everybody had a seat, but you didn't say his. Is he just one of the random middle seats?" she frowned slightly.

"No, he sits next to me. I thought that it was pretty obvious; I didn't think it needed stating."

"Oh, right..."

"Shit! We're meant to be looking for him right now! Cartman's going to be going mental… I wonder if he's really left without us…" Kyle looked slightly panicked as he ran out of The Den and rummaging around the surrounding forest, scowling.

"Look, there are some empty beer bottles over there, do you think they're his? Or did you guys drink in here?" she still looked skeptical again when she started searching around and she came across a lot of empty bottles littering the corner of the shack.

"No, we didn't bring alcohol in here," Kyle ran back inside, picked up one of the bottles and observed it more closely, "I think these are the same brand that Stan's dad drinks; he probably came here,"

"Look," she pointed down at the bottom corner of the wall, "there's something scratched there; what does it say?"

"It says…" he bent down and peered at it, "I'm sorry, guys, I didn't mean to'."

"Oh my God, what do you think he means by that?"

"Nothing, I think he was drunk and was feeling some kind of remorse; he probably assumed we'd look for him here," he looked at the worried look spreading across her face, "he's still out there, he's just not here."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Wendy, I'm sure. It's Stan, I know him. If he was planning on writing a note before jumping off a cliff or something, even if he was trippin' balls he would take the time to write out a long detailed paragraph, and probably talk himself out of it in the meantime actually. He'd most likely end up giving himself an 'I learned something today,' speech."

She pondered for a moment before nodding fiercely, "Yeah, you're right. Ok, we'd better get back to the pond and see if the other two are still here,"

"Right," Kyle nodded back and made a mad dash through the trees, Wendy struggling to keep up behind him. He had to slow down, after realizing she didn't know her way through on her own but kept encouraging her to run faster.

They eventually reached the main part of the pond with no Cartman or Kenny to be seen. The car was gone from where it had been parked down the path and the area was silent.

"Damn it!" Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose, "Ok, whatever, I guess we deserved that, he did say he would leave us. We might be able to walk to the next place though…" he scrambled around in his pocket for his paper before squealing slightly when he heard a loud horn beep.

He looked around and couldn't see anybody around but instantly recognized the horn as being the one from Cartman's car.

"Cartman?" Kyle gestured for Wendy to follow him as they exited the area and walked towards the roadside, "Where are you?"

He glanced around but still couldn't see either of his friends, until, "Jew! Du bist sehr spät! Ins Auto! Jetzt!" it was the fat-boy pouncing on his shoulders from behind, chuckling deeply as he heard the redhead cry out and Wendy shriek, her face now as pale as a sheet.

"Cartman! What the fuck! Don't do that!" he grumbled angrily.

"Well I told you to hurry up you stupid asshole, so do as I say!"

"What, you not gonna finish that with 'respect mah authoritah!'?" Kyle put on his best mock-Cartman voice and laughed as the boy got annoyed and pushed away from him.

"Mund halten, dumme Jew! Ich sagte: 'Im Auto, jetzt!'" he walked off grumpily, Kyle and Wendy following behind him.

"I've already told you to stop talking to me in German, Cartman!"

"Aww, are your Jew senses getting offended?"

"Well as seen as I don't know what you're saying, and most of what you say to me are insults anyway, I don't think it's unreasonably to think that you're belittling my people, and the fact that it is German makes me almost sure of it most of the time! I wouldn't be surprised if most of what you were saying were fucking holocaust jokes!" he protested.

"No, Kahl, they're not. But anyway, what do you think one of the main reasons I took German was?" he shot a self-satisfied grin back at Kyle who was starting to get really annoyed with him, "Nur zu nerven du."

"Piss off, Cartman!"

They reached another road on the other side of the lake and saw Kenny sitting there looking half asleep, "It's about time! Where have you been? I mean, if you had Stan I would get it," he looked behind them all and shook his head, "but you haven't!"

"I think we should just hurry up and leave, we're late as it is," he discretely looked down at his watch. They had been gone for more than an hour already, but he didn't feel like alerting the other two to this as he really needed Cartman's help, no matter how much he was annoying him.

The fat-boy looked as if he was about to say something, but was quickly cut off, "Cartman I swear if the next thing that comes out of your mouth is German I'm going to smash your teeth in," Kyle stated through his own gritted teeth.

"Don't be such a pussy, Kahl, not all Germans want to kill you. They should, but they don't," he flopped down into the driver's seat and waited as everybody rearranged themselves to sit back in their previous positions.

"Fuck off!"

"What's going on with you two now?" Kenny looked confused as they felt the car begin to glide forward.

"First, where are we going?"

"Ice rink." Kyle had already addressed his list and so just spat the answer out, still annoyed at the fatass's comments.

Cartman just nodded and looked back at Kenny, "What were you saying?"

"I was just wondering what it was you two were arguing about this time," he said with a light chuckle.

"It's not funny, Kenny. He's being a jack-ass."

"Isn't he always?" he laughed again as he saw Kyle's face soften into a small smirk in agreement.

"Ay! It's not my fault if he gets a load of sand up his vagina whenever I talk in German."

"Why were you talking German?"

"'Cause _I_ was pissed he was late and I know that speaking German pisses _him_ off," he shrugged his shoulders casually as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, although in this case it probably was.

"Well that's 'cause German's not as appealing as French. French makes everything sound like a compliment if you say it in a cool accent," he smiled smugly to himself.

All three of the boys had taken a foreign language to study, Stan being the only one who didn't claiming, 'I can barely get through English, why would I want to do another one? '. Cartman took German; Kyle, Spanish; Kenny, French.

Cartman already knew both Spanish and German from when he was quite young, but decided he wanted to continue on and study the latter subject in more depth, although the only reason wasn't just to annoy his Jewish friend. He actually enjoyed learning the language and also learning about Germany in general, not because of the whole 'Nazis vs Jews' 'occurrence' (even though he'd be lying if he claimed he didn't enjoy that, especially as he had history class with Kyle as well) but because it just seemed like a pretty cool place, particularly how it stood up against all the resultant prejudice it had gotten from the rest of the world afterwards and built itself up to once again be a powerful country.

Kyle had been quite open to taking up a language as well, but he wasn't really sure which one. German was out of the question, he didn't want to risk ending up in a class with Cartman and being taunted continuously with it, and the only other two were Spanish and French. He had chosen the first because he thought it would come in more handy in the long run and had made his decision on that, as well as the fact that a good 'leader of Meheeco' should really know the native language. He enjoyed it and just like his other subject was very good at it, so much so that on extremely rare occasions, when they were _really_ annoyed at each other and they were especially heated, their arguments would end up with them shouting at each other in Spanish. It was pretty funny for other people to watch, though.

"It's so awesome, there are loads of things you can say to a chick in English and she'll slap you, but if you say it in French they're total suckers for it," he laughed loudly.

"Well anything that comes out of fatass's mouth, even if it ends up being French, will still be complete bullshit."

"Kahl, shut your goddamn Jew mouth!"

As the boys continued to quarrel, Wendy sat quietly, lost in her own thoughts. She was used to them arguing a lot, she'd known them for most of her life and they hadn't changed much in that time. Well apart from they'd grown taller. Some more than others. And they'd had to start shaving, too. They were still the same, adorable kids they had always been though, the one's in the photos in The Den, celebrating their success in one of their many plots or business ventures.

No matter what it all came down to, they were always the same as they had always been deep down.

She looked over at Kyle and smiled warmly. She looked at Kenny and let out a quick but silent chuckle. Then she looked at Cartman and felt her heart skip a beat.

Or maybe it was that bump they just drove over.

Yeah, that's what it was.

**A/N: Ok so the next chapter's up!**

**I know what you're thinking, again with the photographs! But there's a reason for them (well… I think there is, it's a lingering thought in the back of my mind X_x) so just bear with me!**

**Oh, and GERMAN! Haha, I can just imagine Cartman taking German mainly to just piss Kyle off, but I actually take German and it's pretty cool :) Translations are basically Cartman telling Kyle to hurry up and get in the car and him telling Kyle he takes it to get on his nerves there's more, but that's what Google Translate is for hehe :D**

**Cartman's car- I'm really not a big car fan, to me if it looks cool then it is cool, I don't know all the technical details and stuff, so I don't know how many seats and stuff the car actually has, (I'm just going to say it has 5, but i think it has two doors so i guess you need to pull the seats forward to get in the back...) it just seemed so extravegant that it would be something he wanted. Plus it must cost loadsss to get one like that and I don't know how much he'd get as compensation, but let's just use our imaginations, shall we? :D **

**I basically know where I'm headed with this story and I have like a basic outline, though it's taking me a while to write up each chapter, especially as I apparently seem to like making them a lot longer nowadays HOWEVER, I don't mind as long as people are reading and enjoying them (so please tell me if they are; I really appreciate them!) :D**

**Oh and for all of you who might be missing Stan's presence in this, I promise he'll be back soon enough. Maybe not next chapter, but in the next two or three.**

**And I keep promises like Kyle does.**

**So no worries!**

**XXX**


	12. Discombobulation

The boys crashed through the front doors of the ice hockey rink and immediately split up to search different places. Kyle ran straight for the trophy area, Cartman to the locker rooms and Kenny scouring the actual rink. Whilst they all broke off and did their own thing, Wendy followed them timidly, not really sure what she should do. She had been there plenty of times before, but she had always been with Stan and it was a pretty big place so she didn't know where anything was. The guys hadn't been there much either, but they dismissed that and just ran around calling his name, not really caring.

Just before she was about to start her own searching, Wendy heard a hesitant voice behind her. For a moment she felt a bolt of glee surge through her body, but as she turned around to greet them, she was disappointed to realize it wasn't the person she was hoping for.

"Excuse me," the person was a small, frail old man with odd grey wisps of hair combed over a wide bald patch in the middle of his head, "What do you children think you are doing? You can't just come in here and do what you please running around willy nilly!"

Wendy felt embarrassed as she recognized the man as actually being the owner of the rink, her face blushing a little, "Sorry, sir, we just-"

"I don't care what you were doing, you'd best be leaving now before I have to call the police down here!" although his body was feeble and quaking slightly, he spoke strongly and with a lot vigor, which was probably to be expected for somebody who had dedicated a lot of his life to sport like her had.

"I understand that sir, and we will be out very soon," she glanced around to see if she could see any of the guys coming back, but they were all well into the building and she sighed, "Have you by any chance seen Stan around here in the last couple of days?"

"Stan? Now how in the world would I know who that was?"

"He's here all the time; he's the one in the blue hat with the red poofball."

"Oh, you mean Coach Marsh? Sure, he's been around,"

"Really?" her face lit up instantly as she followed him as he walked down the front corridor towards the main rink area.

"He was here just three days ago, hiding, crouched down over there, staring for well over an hour or two. I was going to kick him out, he stunk of liquor, but nobody was here at the time so I just stuck his head under the shower until he sobered up some," he pointed to a case of trophies over at the opposite end of the building where they could just about see Kyle's green hat darting around.

"So is he still here? Where?"

"No, he's not here now, I sent him on his way after I locked up and made sure he was safe enough to get home on his own. Why where is he now? Did something happen to him?"

"He's been missing for quite a few days now, sir," her smile disappeared as the older man looked concerned.

"What? But then who's going to be leading practice tonight?" Wendy looked dismayed when she realized that he didn't actually seem to care that he had vanished and so ran off to go and find the other guys and tell them that the raven haired boy wasn't there and that they should move on.

The ice rink had a lot of significance to Stan. Not only had he spent a lot of his later childhood playing there, he had then gone on to take up another coaching job there. He coached the same team he had had for pee-wee hockey but at an older age, give or take a few players. It had been inspired by the fact that even though they had always sucked and lost most of their games, they still had enough determination and spirit to carry on playing anyway, so he had decided to come back and turn them into the amazingly well-skilled team they always wanted to be. It had seemed like an impossible task and he had considered just giving up on them a few times, but in the end he persevered and with special thanks to the help of a certain young Canadian hockey lover, they had eventually gotten to a high enough position to make it to the finals of their last county hockey tournament. They hadn't won, but when they were announced as coming second, it made the whole team go ecstatic, seemingly more-so than the team that had come first. It was a proud moment for them to go through, finally seeing that all their hard work and enthusiasm had paid off, especially as they got a pretty big trophy to go with it too.

Whenever he was upset, Stan would usually go down to the rink and just sit in front of the trophy and just stare at it, sometimes for hours at a time, contemplating life and realizing things weren't always as bad as they seemed. It made him appreciate the little things as well as the things that mattered the most, like being able to be inspired by a group of kids to make his own life better whilst having the opportunity to return that by helping them in turn. He would usually go when nobody else was around so that it would be quiet and so that he could focus his thoughts without being distracted. Only a few people knew he went there; the owner of the rink, the janitor and Kyle. Often Kyle would come there when he knew something was wrong, find him crouched down in the corner and sit next to him and then sit there in silence until either Stan spoke or they made an unspoken mutual decision to leave.

"He's not here, Kyle," he felt Wendy's small hand touch his shoulder softly as he turned away from the trophy cabinet and looked at her standing there.

"Yeah… I thought for sure he would be though…"

"He had been here though; he's just not here anymore."

"What? What do you mean?"

She went on to quickly tell him what exactly the aging owner had told her about their friend as they hurried around to the exit, Kyle calling out for Cartman and Kenny as they went. Wendy quickly nodded at the owner with a polite smile as they rushed out and loaded themselves back into the car.

"Damn it! We're never going to find him if every time we go somewhere he's already been and left!" Kyle shouted in exasperation, cupping his face in his hands.

"Well that's because you're two days behind his schedule," Kenny piped up quite suddenly after a few moments of silence had passed, a look of deep concentration on his face, "If he was here two days ago, he's probably gone to the next place on your list and then left there too. We need to either catch up with him or get one step ahead."

There was another instance of silence, everybody deep in thought about the very valid point the blonde had just made. Kyle lifted his head and stared blankly at the piece of paper they had made earlier with the places he would go.

"How do we know where he's gone to? There's no way of knowing that."

"Well, then we'll go to the furthest one and go backwards, that way we're bound to run into him somewhere along the way," Kenny nodded his head at the list, "So what's the last one?"

Kyle glanced cautiously at Cartman who was currently gazing out the window at a passing pigeon, "The Broncos."

Cartman's head suddenly snapped around to look at the redhead who squirmed down into his seat further, "The Broncos? As in the stadium? You want me to drive all the way to fucking Denver?"

"I didn't say that! Kenny asked what the last one was…"

"I'm not going to Denver, Kahl."

"But-"

"Dude, we need to find Stan, just drive us!"

"Shut up, Kinny! Just because you're too poor to have your own car doesn't mean you have to abuse mine! I gave you a fucking hour, and I'm still here, just be happy for that at least," he groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck and glanced at his watch.

"Cartman, stop being a dick," Kenny turned and punched him lightly in the arm, "Come on, let's just go now; the sooner we go, the earlier we'll get back."

He didn't provide a response, but the fatass sighed loudly as he turned the engine on and started driving away from the rink at a rapid pace. The rest of them sat in their seats quietly, still not quite sure whether they were going to find Stan or not. They tried to look for signs of where they were going, but they didn't seem to be going in the direction of home or towards Denver. It didn't take them long to reach a small convenience store and for Cartman to jump out of the car, gesturing for Kyle to follow him in and mumbling something about if Kenny wrecked his car whilst he was gone he would kill him, which was always what he said when he left the tall blonde there so he just waved it off and watched the two boys enter the shop. It was empty except for the large but dopey looking man standing behind the counter staring gormlessly at a small TV set up in the corner of the room.

"What are we doing here, Cartman?" Kyle asked curious to their coming there.

"Give me some money, Jew," he completely ignored the question and thrust his hand out in his friend's direction, his palm up expectantly.

"What? No! What the hell?"

"Ay, if you're making me miss lunch then you're buying me some goddamn food!"

Kyle stopped and considered arguing with him, but eventually sighed and pulled out his wallet, "Dude, I don't have much, how much do you want?"

Cartman grinned smugly, "Well let's just see what there is and then we'll come to a total later shall we? I think we may need your Jew math skills to work out such a large answer."

"Fuck you, Cartman, you can have ten bucks, that's it, no more."

"Fine, whatever," he flipped him off and disappeared into the back of the store to browse the shelves whilst Kyle stood waiting at the front for him to reemerge.

The redhead sighed silently, stuffing his hands into his pockets, thinking of the events of the last week over and over in his head. He just wasn't sure what to do. What was he supposed to say when they actually found Stan? What if they didn't find him in the end at all? Or what if they found him, but he was in prison or hospital- or worse?

NO.

Stan was fine, they were going to find him, and that was a certainty. Everything was going to go back to how it was before he had gone awol and life was going to be better than it had ever been for the experience. That's how it was going to be, they just had to find out how.

Soon enough, Cartman came waddling back, his arms full with an assortment of drinks and snacks.

"-The fuck? Cartman! I said ten bucks, that's about fifty right there!"

"Well I haven't made a final decision on what I want yet. If you're paying, I'm getting my money's worth," he replied in a jeering tone.

Kyle groaned slightly as he watched his fat friend make an elaborate and showy display of choosing what he wanted before stopping and turning to him, "What are you getting then?"

"Don't rush me, Jew!"

"We have places to go, dude!"

"Well I don't give a shit, I'm fucking hungry!"

"You're always hungry you fat fuck!"

"Ay! Don't insult me or I'll just leave you here and you can make your own way home!"

Kyle opened his mouth to retaliate, but he just sighed heavily, "Cartman, just pick something."

"Fine," he growled as he decided on a bunch of items and handed them to the redhead, "Are you getting anything for the bitch?"

"What?"

"I mean, I guess she's gonna be hungry too. I'm getting stuff for Kenny, so we'll both be chowing down whilst she just sits there being her annoying hippie self."

"Oh… I didn't think about that. I guess I'd better get her something to eat as well then," he proceeded to quickly pick up a few drinks and some food and continued to pay for them all.

When they eventually got back to the car, Wendy and Kenny were sitting in awkward silence. Neither had attempted to talk to the other and instead had opted to just staring out of their respective windows in anticipation for their friends' arrival. Although they knew each other quite well and had no qualms with each other, they often found that without anybody else from their group around they had nothing to talk about, although this rarely ever happened as most of their contact was just passing each other in the halls and perhaps giving each other a polite smile every now and then. Now, however, it seemed like they both had so much they wanted to say that they just couldn't get the words out and so it was just better to say nothing at all.

"We got food," Kyle slid in the car next to Wendy and opened up his bag to show her the contents, "I didn't really know what you liked, but I guess there's a bit of everything in there and anything you don't like we can just give to Cartman; it's nice to have a human garbage disposal sometimes," he sniggered.

Kenny joined in with the laugh, returning to his normal self and Wendy just smiled, "Thanks."

Cartman pushed another bag into Kenny's lap, grumbling under his breath and then saying, "There's our stuff. Don't eat it all you skinny piece of crap,"

He then started the car going again after taking a quick swig of soda and they graciously glided through the streets in haste for Denver. As they quietly munched on their food and Cartman and Kenny made small talk in the front of the car, Kyle could see the dark haired girl starting to look more and more anxious. She was staring straight ahead, her gaze not moving from what appeared to be Cartman in her line of vision.

"Wendy? Are you alright?" the boy patted her on the shoulder, but her stare stayed fixed.

Her jaw moved slightly, as if she was about to open her mouth to reply, but instead she just relaxed it again and continued to look at the back of the fat boy's seat. He noticed that she hadn't replied to Kyle's question and glanced back at them quickly before looking back at the road. He continued to feel awkward as he could feel her eyes boring a hole in the back of his neck.

Suddenly, without warning he snapped, "What do you want?" he slammed on the breaks, causing Kyle and Kenny to yell out in shock.

"Cartman, what the hell? Why have we stopped? We're in the middle of a road!"

"Tell your fucking bitch to stop staring at me then!" his hands were grasped tightly around the wheel, his knuckles nearly popping out of his skin.

She stayed silent, her gaze falling to her feet. Once again, her jaw moved in her mouth, but she didn't say anything and just coughed quietly.

"Well? What they fuck do you want?" Cartman whipped around and stared down at her as she waited quietly, nibbling on her bottom lip, "Ay, I'm talking to you! Don't ignore me!"

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'? Because I'm fucking driving you and _that_ fucking asshole to find your fucking hippie boyfriend, that's why! If there's something you want to say, just say it!" Cartman voice sounded sinister as he got irate at the girl who hardly twitched as his angry voice bellowed at her; instead she just looked at Kyle who looked practically uninterested in the confrontation, only momentarily flipping off the fat one when he heard his comment about him as Wendy just stared back down at her shoes.

"Can I-"

"Shut up, Kenny," Kyle and Cartman interrupted him before he could finish what he was saying, as the boy squirmed back down into his seat feeling slightly dejected before just shrugging it off and listening back in on the conflict. He was used to getting told to 'shut up' in the middle of his friends' arguments, mostly because he would try to stop them and so it didn't really matter that much to him, as well as seeing the fierce look in all of their eyes convincing him it probably would be best to just stay out of it.

Wendy visibly took a deep breath, lifted her head, leaned forward and stared the large boy straight in the eyes, "Cartman, you are an arrogant, self-centered, slightly psychotic dumbass who cares about nobody but himself," her voice was steady with concentration.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance "What the f-"

"But you're not," she shook her head lightly before sighing and discreetly gripping onto Kyle's thin hand tightly, "Cartman you're not those things. You put on this front to make people see you this way, but you're not that person. I feel like there's a different you, a more sensitive you, but I haven't been able to meet him. I want to be able to know that you."

He looked discombobulated and uncomfortable before leaning back slightly, "Wendy-"

"I'm not finished," she cut him off, cleared her throat and then began speaking again, "I don't think you're arrogant, I think you just feel like you have to excessively praise yourself because you think if you don't nobody else will."

"Wendy, I don't want to hear this-"

She squeezed Kyle's hand tighter, "I'm not giving you the choice," she stared at the look of anxiety on Cartman's face, "You're not self-centered; you just pretend not to care for anything because you're scared of getting hurt."

"_Wendy_-"

"And I mean, I'm not a psychologist, so I don't know what goes on in your head, but you're definitely not dumb, even though you hate to admit that you actually are really smart. You could really do well in your school work, if you really tried."

"WENDY-"

"You care. You care about a lot of things. You just don't know how to show it. You feel like you have to control it, like you need to be able to be in charge of what you do and don't care about. But you don't. You need to learn that if you hold things back, that's what's going to hurt you the most, but Cartman, I truly am sorry-"

"WENDY, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Cartman whipped back around in his seat, swerved the car out of the middle of the road and proceeded to get out of the vehicle, slamming the door violently behind him.

His reaction hadn't taken anybody by surprise, but as the door closed everybody let out a quiet sigh of relief. Wendy just slumped back and lay against the back of her seat, looking visibly anxious for the first time in the whole confrontation. Her fingers were still entwined around Kyle's and she slowly pulled them away to cover her face.

"So… Um…" Kenny shifted awkwardly in his seat, turning around and watching Cartman out of the window before looking back at his other two friends, "What the hell?"

"I had to sort things out," she whispered quietly.

Kyle twitched, "I did say you didn't have to do it now…"

"Well, he asked me if I had something to say and I did. And now it's said," her voice choked as she fell onto Kyle's shoulder and gripped hold of his arm tightly, her voice still quiet "What if he doesn't help us now?"

Kyle stayed silent as he held his chin deep in thought, not knowing what to do or say. He usually prided himself on being able to help solve problems pretty easily, but lately things were being blown to proportions to which he had no idea how to tackle. Everything seemed to be changing, and not necessarily always in a good way.

He watched his friend outside, pacing up and down the path quite a way down the road, mumbling to himself and rubbing his neck with his hands before kicking at the ground or shouting out an obscenity at an innocent lamp post. He looked so angry, but also sad and confused, conflicted by his own emotions. Everything Wendy had said about him had been true, he held back his feelings from both himself and other people and now he was overwhelmed by this whirlwind of emotions that was circling in on him that was too strong for him to escape.

It wasn't long before he just stopped and fell down to his knees. Kyle hurriedly scrambled around with his seatbelt and moved the chair to quickly jump out and run out towards the fallen boy. Wendy and Kenny hadn't seen what had happened at first, but as soon as they did, Wendy attempted to chase after them, before be pulled back in by the blonde. He wanted to go over and help too, Cartman was one of his best friends after all, but he knew that if he went Wendy would follow and that really wasn't going to help the situation at all, so he just stayed and reassured her that Kyle would sort it out, 'like always,'.

As the redhead hastily approached the boy, he could hear him sobbing loudly, rocking back and forth and holding himself. The boys face was crumpled, tears streaming down his pink cheeks as he gasped for breath. Kyle fell to his own knees on a patch of ground next to him and before he knew what he was doing he just instinctively wrapped his arms around the boy, letting him cry into his chest. Instead of pulling away, the boy barely flinched as he melted into the redheaded boy's hold, relaxing his body but still crying noisily. Kyle rocked him sympathetically; his grasp tight as he whispering words of comfort into his ear as the sobs quietened down and turned into hushed sniffles. They stayed held together on the cold snow-covered ground for a while, not being off put by passing glances from people driving past and just kneeled there in silence.

"Get off of me, Jew," Cartman suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse but insincere as he made no attempt to move.

"Cartman; what the hell? What was all that about?" he talked quietly, his voice concerened and him not moving either.

"You're a Jew; I don't want a Jew touching me."

"You know that's not what I'm asking about dude,"

"Well then I don't know what you're talking about then," he abruptly ripped himself out of the redheads arms and clambered to his feet, dusting the flecks of snow off of his jacket and the knees of his jeans.

"Are you being serious? You're just gonna get up and walk away like nothing's just happened?" Kyle began to feel irritated as Cartman held out his hand and helped haul him up off of the pavement.

"Well if we're going to fucking Denver, Kahl, we'd better hurry up 'cause it's a long ass ride," he pushed his hands back in his pockets and walked in the direction of his car.

"No!" he could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, "No, Cartman! We are _not_ leaving it like that!"

"Sure we are. There's nothing wrong. There's nothing to talk about," he shrugged offhandedly.

"What? No! Look," he tried to sound as reassuring and comforting as possible, but he was losing his patience, "You don't have to talk to me about what's going on in your head right now, but you need to talk to somebody. I think it would be best for you and Wendy to just get everything out in the open and sort your fucking problems out, but even if you just tell Kenny that'll do for now, he'll know what to say. But seriously, we aren't going anywhere until you suck it up and admit that there's stuff you need to talk about," he pulled forcefully on Cartman's arm so that they were facing each other, Kyle staring upwards to see the larger boys reaction.

His expression was still a mixture of different emotions, but he tried to force a look of apathy as he attempted (and failed) to break away from his friend's fierce hold on his thick arm, "Let go of me, Kahl."

"Not until you talk to somebody, fat ass!"

Cartman stood silent in thought for a few minutes, his body stiff as he thought over his options. It was his car, Kyle couldn't actually stop him from going anywhere, if anything it was the other way around, but he felt like he actually wanted to let his emotions out. It was as if they had just realized there was a way out of his head and were drumming on his skull requesting to be released.

"Fine," his voice was quiet, "Tell the poor boy to get his scrawny ass out here then. Just him."

Kyle smirked slightly as he let go of the boys arm and darted back towards the car. He discreetly looked inside and saw Wendy sitting with one of her hand's fingers clawing at the skin of her other arm, her face pale. Kenny was shuffling his deck of cards quietly, his eyes fixed on them with such concentration that when the redhead rapped loudly on the window next to him the cards flew out of his hands over the floor of the car as he jumped with fright.

"Ah! What the hell? Damn It, Kyle!" he turned and saw Kyle's face pressed close next to the glass and mouthing, 'Come here,' next to him, gesturing for him to get out of the car.

He sighed heavily and exited the vehicle before lightly punching his friend in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"For scaring the shit out of me! What do you want anyway? Is Cartman alright?" he glanced at the larger boy who was back to pacing in circles.

"Well… He claims he's fine but he's obviously he's not. I told him we're not going anywhere until he talks to somebody so he said he's talk to you, so you know, be supportive and stuff."

"Ha, supportive? Can't I just rip on him for crying like a little bitch?"

"Kenny! He's totally screwed up right now, like seriously."

"Really? Fine, I'll be cool," he looked back at the larger boy, "What do I say?"

"Just ask him what he's thinking about; what's going through his head right now, and just respond appropriately, I guess. I dunno, I've never seen him like this."

"Neither have I..."

"Anyway, we've got to hurry up, so make sure that when he's actually sane, or as sane as he's ever going to be, and not just faking it you get back here as quick as possible. Good luck, dude."

"Sure, whatever," Kenny said with another sigh as he trekked over to his large friend, "Oh, and Kyle, I think you need to do something about Wendy too, she's kind of freakin' out now."

The redhead pinched the bridge of nose, "Yeah, ok dude."

He opened the door to the car and noticed the scattered cards on the floor and sat in the front seat closing the door behind him so that he could pick them up without them blowing away from him. As he did so, he could hear Wendy breathing heavily, her eyes closed tightly, her nails still scratching away at her skin in anxiety. He didn't know if she knew he was there, so he continued to collect the cards up in silence, thinking over what he could say right now to reassure her that everything was fine, but he couldn't come up with anything that he thought was convincing enough.

After a while, breaking the silence, Wendy exhaled loudly, covering her face with her hands, "I screwed up, didn't I?" Kyle stayed quiet for a moment, but just as he was about to reply she interrupted, "Everything was fine, and then I had to go and blurt out all that stuff."

"Well…"

"And, I told myself, don't say anything to him until we find Stan, just in case he gets angry and doesn't want to help us, but I did it anyway. Gosh, I'm such an idiot!"

"You're not an idiot, Wendy-"

"I am! What if he doesn't help us now? What if we don't find Stan now?"

"He's still going to help us; he's just sorting his head out. He just got a bit overwhelmed, but he'll be fine."

"But-"

"Wendy, seriously, just stop worrying, you said what needed to be said, and now there's nothing we can do about it. It's out now and if he carries on trying to deny it I'm going to kick his ass, so he just needs to sort himself out," he climbed into the back of the car so that he was sitting next to the dark haired girl who was progressively looking less worried.

"Ok… But where is he now? What's he doing? And where's Kenny gone?"

"They're in the process of sorting it out, I guess. I told him he had to talk to somebody so he's talking to Kenny."

"Oh… right," she looked out of her window to look out at the boys discussing among themselves, their breath visible as it escaped their lips.

Outside, Kenny was awkwardly trying to Cartman who was pretty much unresponsive to most of what he said to him. They had made their way to sit on a small roadside bench although the larger boy tried as hard as possible to sit the furthest distance away from his friend.

"So, um, what's up, dude?"

"The sky. What of it?"

"I, er, I just wanted to know if you're alright."

Cartman sat in silence, turning to see the blonde shivering in his place, probably more from being a bit uneasy than being in the cold; he had his trusty orange parka on, although he didn't wear the hood up anymore.

Kenny had stopped wearing his hood up so often after they had left 6th grade, deciding that it was time he faced the world, well, full-facedly. It had been hard at first, with most people thinking he was new in town and then having looks of shock on their faces when they found out who he actually was. It made him feel like nobody had known who the real him was before, but that just made him more determined in keeping it off, except for in extreme weather conditions that is. Plus, not having it up and having his luscious golden locks out on show helped him a lot more with the ladies.

"No, Kinny. I am not."

"Oh… Ok… Er, why?"

Cartman raised his eyebrow as Kenny continued to squirm in his seat, "Because that stupid bitch, got to me, that's why."

"Oh… Right…"

"You're not much help, Kinny."

"Well to be honest, I'm not used to this kind of stuff, you know I hate talking about feelings and shit."

"Well, so do I! But Kahl seems to think we need to talk. I say we just pretend and then go back and tell him everything's kosher," he smirked, his anti-Semitic sense of humor obviously coming back to him, "So, yeah. Let's just chill."

"But I think you actually need to talk to somebody at some point Cartman, even if it's not now, because if the things she said got to you that much, you must believe them and so you should find some way of letting out that emotion and stuff…"

"You sound like Kahl now…"

"Yeah well, I'm trying to be 'supportive', so if I sound like him I guess that's a good thing. Well, maybe not for you, but whatever."

"Fine, when we get out of this whole stupid hippie-dippy mess of a situation, I will talk to someone about my fucked up life. Happy?"

"Er, sure. I guess that's a decent outcome of this. So just remember, urm," he looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to come up with something reassuring to end their conversation, "If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off," both boys stopped and looked at each other silently before bursting out into a roar of laughter.

"You are such a dumbass Kinny! What candy bar wrapper did you steal that one off? Haha!" Cartman said between laughs, "Ok, let's get back to the car, we've got to get going again soon."

**A/N: Dudes, how's it going? I don't really have much to say on this chapter really… Hmm… Well Cartman's in complete denial of his emotions and stuff, which I guess he has been for most of his life, so I didn't think that making him just come out with it all would be a proper response for him, I guess he just needs time, I don't know if I'll do the scene where he does actually talk about it to anyone, I'm not great with emotions, bleh. He still cares about her, even though he won't admit it to anyone, even himself. Oh and Kyle, Kenny and Cartman are so much closer now, aw.**

**And so, like, Stan's still off on his own solitary adventure, but you'll have to wait to find out that is all about. Oh, and he's not dead, you'll probably be happy to know. **

**So, erm, yeah. **

**OH YEAH:- There's that new image manager thing? So if anybody wants to draw an image for this story or something, you know, that'd be cool. Aha but I doubt it :')**

**Cool beans.**

**Have a nice day! :D**

**XXX**


	13. Don't Stop Me Now

**A/N: Ok guys, so I know I don't really do starting authors notes, but I thought it would only be 'fair' to tell you that there is absolutely no story progression in this chapter whatsoever :')**

**Like seriously, it's just the group talking about random crap and making stupid jokes so if you don't want to read that stuff, I'd advise you to wait until (or skip to, if it's already up) the next chapter. I think you should read it, because I found it pretty funny to write, but I know some people don't really like that stuff when it's in the middle of a 'serious' part of the story. Just read the first paragraph or the end author's note, it pretty much sums up the whole chapter and then maybe come back to it at the end or something? Lol, I dunno. Basically, they're all cool with each other for now. Plus there's some detail about Butters and Kenny in there somewhere; nothing that affects the story, just some filler stuff I guess.**

**Have fun! Heh :D**

Surprisingly, when Kenny and Cartman made their way back to the car, they were greeted by an equally positive Kyle and Wendy, smiling at them as they got in. They had decided that the best way to get through this was to just be optimistic and to try to cause as little confrontation as possible from now on. Well anything serious that is; Kyle's petty arguments with Cartman were inevitable. Plus they were kind of fun. They thought it was going to be hard to maintain that, but once they realized that the other two boys were in similarly high spirits, they relaxed a little.

As the car started and they made their way through the streets, each person in the car had a small smile on their face, although they all felt a bit of apprehension that they kept pushed in the back of their minds.

As they were racing across a busy freeway, Cartman let out a loud yawn as his eyes closed for a moment and the car temporarily swerved, much to the panic of the others, "Cartman, What the hell! I wanna die peacefully in my sleep like my grandpa did, not screaming and yelling like his passengers!" Kenny grabbed hold of the door handle tightly, his chest visibly moving up and down rapidly.

"Haha, Kenny calm down, dude! I'm not gonna frickin' crash the car! And I am actually going to die if you carry on with those one-liners!" he eased his foot off of the gas pedal to slow down a bit as he regained his composure.

"Whatever man, I just don't want to die today. I've been on a lucky streak."

"What the hell are you talking about? What lucky streak?"

"Never mind, forget I said anything," Kenny sighed to himself as he let go of the handle and leaned his chin onto his fist, his elbow balanced on the window ledge.

The immortal blonde hadn't died in weeks, or three months and seventeen days to be exact. He had tried every possible thing he could do to stay out of dangers way and usually took extreme measures to keep himself from dying. It was a burden he hated having to carry, but he just had to suck it up. Sometimes it was pretty reassuring knowing that no matter what happened to him, he'd just come back to life eventually, but it infuriated him that nobody would ever remember that anything had happened after he came back. Even his parents were woozy on the details and often forgot that he died, even after going to great lengths to have a funeral and then give birth to him again. In the time that they did know what was happening, a daunting thought crossed their minds. They thought that if Mrs McCormick died then Kenny's powers of immortality would be rendered ineffective and although they didn't envision that happening at any point soon, they took it upon themselves to try to teach Kenny to stop dying so often so he wouldn't just get into the habit. Obviously he already didn't want to die every day, but as his parents didn't remember having these conversations with him, he had to deal with it everytime he came back to life until they forgot that he had died and carried on being the dumb drunks they were used to being.

Still muttering to himself, the blonde boy said, "but I intend to live forever; so far, so good."

Everybody else had heard what he had said and laughed, Kyle commenting, "Yeah, me too," before chuckling lightly.

"Nah, screw living forever, that's too long," Cartman looked thoughtful for a second, "I say 100 is a pretty good end number. Triple digits at the very least."

"What? Why wouldn't you want to live forever?" Kenny asked inquisitively.

"'Cause then everybody else would be old and dying around me and it'd be pretty funny at first but then I'd be so old I couldn't do anything fun so it'd suck. Life's like a bird brah, it's pretty cool until it goes and shits on your head," it didn't take long for everybody to start laughing again.

"Well I think living forever would be pretty sweet, plus you'd probably stop physically aging at some point so you wouldn't be all grey and wrinkly like most old people," Kyle pointed out.

"Yeah like in all those crappy vampire love movies they're like thousands of years old and are still teenagers."

"I hate those films," Wendy suddenly piped up.

"Really? I thought chicks digged that stuff?" Kenny turned to her as she shook her head.

"Nah, I miss the days when vampires were the kind of things you'd be scared of and run away from, and I don't see what's so hot about having pointy teeth anyway."

"Haha, you're not a normal girl then."

"Good, being like everyone else sucks. I'd much rather by my own person and be cool than be like everybody else and be an idiot."

"True," Kyle nodded his head with a smile.

Just as everybody became quiet for a moment, Kenny suddenly interjected out of nowhere, "I'd love to be a bird."

"Ha, what?"

"Like, how Cartman was saying how life's like a bird, I'd love to be that bird. You'd just fly around all day doing what you want and thinking, 'Ok, who should I shit on today,' it'd be hilarious!"

"What kind of bird would you be?" Kyle asked curiously after laughing at the comment.

"Urm... I guess I'd be that really fast one, 'P' something..." he looked thoughtful.

"A Peregrine Falcon?"

"Yeah, that one! So I'd be faster than anything else and so nothing would be able to get me and eat me and stuff."

"What is your obsession with things killing you, Kinny," Cartman suddenly joined in the conversation as the blonde just shrugged his shoulders dismissing the first comment but scowling when he heard the next, the first boys voice malicious but in jest as he spoke, "You know what? You should be a chicken. That way you'd live in a cramped little box, just like you do now, for your short life and then have your neck viciously chopped off after they've cracked it and slaughtered you. Sound like fun?"

"Fuck you, Cartman!"

"Whatever. If I were a bird, I'd be a Griffin."

"That's not a real bird, plus its like, half lion isn't it? So you can't be a griffin, pick another one!" Kenny grunted.

"Yeah it is a real bird, Kinny! They're those ones that live in the desert and circle dead stuff, tell him Kahl!"

"Oh, do you mean a _Griffon_? As in a vulture?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah them ones! They're sweet," Cartman nodded his head in agreement.

"No they're not fat ass! They're frickin' brutal!"

"They don't actually kill stuff though, they just wait for other animals to kill them first and then eat the left overs, so I think it's a perfect fit for him actually with him being so lazy," Kyle pointed out with a chuckle.

"Ay! Whatever... So what would you be anyway, Jew?"

"I guess I'd be... a Kea."

"What the hell is that?"

"It's a bird from New Zealand. They're really curious and smart creatures," Wendy suddenly interrupted.

"Oh. Why do you know about birds in New Zealand? Actually, how do you know so much about birds anyway?" Kenny asked with a perplexed look on his face.

"I dunno... I just like them I guess. I learnt a lot about them when we went on that trip to the aviaries in Denver ages ago and then just stayed interested in them."

"That's such a pussy thing to like, Kahl," Cartman added with a snigger.

"Well it's more interesting than playing my Xbox all day fat ass!"

"I didn't see you complaining about that last week though," he said looking smug.

"Whatever. So Wendy," Kyle turned to the dark haired girl, "What would you be?"

"I think I'd be a parrot. But not one of those that people keep for pets, one of the ones that live in the amazon rainforest and get to fly around free all day, their beautiful plumage reflecting off of the raindrops as they fell," she sighed contentedly before being cut off by Cartman.

"The rainforest sucks ass dude."

"Yeah, I'd hate to live there," Kyle added as Kenny nodded in agreement.

"What? Why?"

"Because we nearly got killed when we went there when we were back in third grade," the redhead explained as Cartman growled under his breath 'It's fuckin' hell that's what it is' and Kenny just stayed quiet.

"Well I like the rainforest, so I'm staying as a parrot."

"Fine, but that's because you haven't been there. Let's see how much you like it when you're getting killed by snakes and the local people," Kyle shrugged as Wendy playfully swatted at him.

Making a final comment, Kenny added, "Birds are pretty sweet," before they all sighed happily and fell into a relaxed silence.

After a while, they had gotten quite a way through into their long journey before Cartman could be heard moaning to himself.

"What's wrong now?" Kyle asked in exasperation.

"I'm hungry."

"Again? You're always fucking hungry, Cartman," the redhead sighed as he peered back out of the window at the passing vehicles.

"Well sorry, but it's not my fault if the skinny boy ate all the damn food we got..."

"I didn't eat it all! You had loads!"

"Well, I'm hungry. I might lead to cannibalism soon enough if you keep me cooped up in here."

"If you do, can you Kyle first, he's got more meat on him than I have," the blonde asked, his tone of voice serious.

"Barely. It's just 'cause he's got more muscle on him because you're too lazy to lift some weights from time to time."

"I don't think you're anyone to lecture on being lazy fatass! And Kyle doesn't lift weights, he'd probably squash himself with them. It's just his basketball-"

"Hey! I don't see why you're discussing _me_; I don't want to get eaten first anyway!" Kyle perked up from behind them, "Kenny is taller, gram for gram there's more of him, and then you'll have more bone to chew on afterwards as well."

"True... Hmm, Kinny, I think you're going to have to be first after all."

"What? Damn it, Kyle!"

The redhead chuckled to himself, "That's what you get for being tall,"

"Well at least I don't have to get my height checked at the amusement park everytime we go," Kenny sniggered back.

"That's not funny! It's so annoying; I'm not even that short anyway!"

"Yeah you are dude! You're only just about taller than Wendy, and she's a girl, so you are way short!"

"Well... It's not that bad of a thing."

"Yeah it is, 'cause chick's love tall guys. Right Wendy?"

Before she had a chance to say anything, Cartman butted in, "Yeah but if you're going on that logic isn't the phrase 'tall, dark and handsome'? So you've only got one out of the three. Me on the other hand, I have all of them."

"Oh please," Kenny sneered, "Wendy, who's hotter? Me or Cartman?"

Wendy looked startled by the question and continued to look so as she saw both boys watching her for an answer, Kenny turning around in his seat and Cartman glancing at her in the rear-view mirror in between watching the road. She looked to Kyle who appeared to find the whole situation hilarious, as he had his arms crossed and stared at Wendy too, forcing a look of seriousness onto his face as he held back laughter.

"I... I... I don't know. Kyle help me!"

"Ha, help you how?"

"I don't know... You pick."

"What? No, what the hell? That's just weird dude!"

"No it isn't."

"Yeah, it really is."

"If girls can appreciate when another girl looks pretty, why can't guys do the same?"

"Because when girls do that, they end up bitching about the other and then somewhere along the line ending up in a catfight. So, ur, no thanks."

Wendy looked deep in thought, "Hmm... I guess you're right. Well then in that case, I don't want to answer either."

"No, you have to!" Kenny pleaded, "Pleaseee?"

"No."

"Pfft, you're no fun then," Kenny stuck his tongue out playfully as he turned back around in his seat.

"I think you're all forgetting the main problem here," Cartman started slowly, as everybody else went silent for a moment.

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked at an equally slow pace.

"I'm still fucking hungry!"

Everybody sighed loudly, before Kyle kicked the back of his chair lightly, "You are such a dumbass, Cartman."

"Actually, Kahl, I am not. Wendy said so," he kept his eyes fixed on the road before he started humming to himself quietly, a smug grin on his face.

The girl flicked her eyes up at him, her face going slightly pink as she saw the other two boys glance at her with slight frowns on their faces. It was understandable- everytime they called him dumbass from now on he'd most likely automatically use that in his defence which would just suck all the fun out of it. For them, not Cartman that is; he'd probably find it hilarious.

After a moment of silence, Cartman spoke again, "To be honest, guys are born with two feelings: hunger and horniness. So if you haven't got a boner, you're most likely gonna be hungry," he shrugged his shoulders casually before being greeted by laughter from Kenny and a scowl from Kyle.

"That's stupid logic. Not all guys are craven and sex-mad like you two!"

"If you're referring to yourself, Kahl, I've always known you were a secretly a chick not so deep down," he replied with an ever-growing smile on his face.

"Shut up, Cartman! I'm not a girl!"

"Wow, somebody's got a lot of sand up her v-"

"Piss off!" he kicked the back of his chair again, this time with more force than before and then slumped down into his seat, his arms crossed tightly across his chest.

Cartman just sniggered back at him, "Whatever, but if you carry on kicking my chair I'm going to come and fucking cut them off!"

"Fine," he huffed as he flipped his phone open.

Somehow the day had gone incredibly fast and it was about 2 o'clock. He sighed happily as he looked over at his three friends who were all talking and laughing as if none of their confrontations had ever happened and they were all back to being how they were two summers ago. Back when things were great and they spent their days having fun without a care or worry in the world; the only difference now being that they did have bigger things to worry about. But at least they were getting along and weren't fighting.

Kyle rummaged around in the bag of food he had gotten from the store and found a small chocolate bar sitting at the bottom. Wendy hadn't wanted it because it had nuts in and she didn't really like them and the redhead just hadn't been particularly hungry to start with.

He continued to throw it at the back of the fat boy's head, chuckling to himself, "There, eat it and stop complaining."

He was about to start moaning, but after Cartman realized what it was that had been thrown at him shrugged his shoulders and thrust it at Kenny, "Open it for me," and when the blonde boy question why he should the larger proceeded to swerve the car side to side until his friend did as requested, "You're such a pussy, Kinny."

As Cartman sat munching on his chocolate with one hand and steering with the other, he started humming loudly to himself again, nodding his head in time with the rhythm. At first it annoyed everybody else who was in the vehicle, but soon they all started to enjoy it as they all joined in. It wasn't long until they burst into a full version of 'Don't Stop Me Now' and were singing it at full volume, not necessarily in tune. During the verses, they would mostly just end up humming them and only chanting the last word of each line deafeningly and then regaining full volume as they reached the chorus. When the song was over they all fell into uncontrollable laughter as they all glanced at each other's beaming faces.

"Hey, you know what, we should be in a band guys."

"Totally," Kenny spluttered.

"Cartman, we already did that, and it failed epically!" Kyle stammered between giggles.

"Yeah, but that was because we went about it the wrong way, we need to just go straight into massive gigs, screw the mall."

"And how would we do that?"

"Just crash one."

"Ha, you have got to be kidding me! I'm not going to prison for you, fat ass!"

"No, I'm seriously! Like, remember when I got Faith +1 platinum, we could easily do that again."

"You didn't get it platinum though, you got Myrrh! Hahaha!" Kyle and Kenny burst into another splutter of laughter.

"Ay! Shut up you stupid Jew! I didn't see you getting your platinum album! So technically..." A look of mischief crossed his face, "The bet's still in progress!"

"What? No it isn't! We are not starting that crap again Cartman!"

"Why? You scared?" he asked cockily.

"No! I just have much better things to do with my time," he replied defensively.

"Like what?"

The redhead hesitated for a moment, not really having any response, "Urm... Like... Stuff. Just stuff. I don't need to tell you what I do with my life!"

"Yeah, you don't need to tell us because you spend most of your time with us anyway," Kenny added.

"Kenny, you're meant to be on my side!"

"Why? It's fun being on Cartman's side."

"Dude! No it's not! Plus, you'd have to be on my side because the deal was that the fat ass got a platinum record before Moop, not just me."

"Damn! Fine, whatever I'll be on your side. Urm... Stop being a jackass, Cartman!" Kenny laughed childishly.

The larger boy promptly flipped him off, "So, Kahl, how about it? We on?"

"Nah, because we still don't have the full band yet, we'd need to find Stan first..." his voice trailed off at the thought, but he quickly cleared his throat and started again, "But Token isn't going to join you again, you fucking pissed him off last time."

"Fine, I'll get somebody else, the members of my band weren't pre-specified anyway," he shrugged his shoulders casually, "Plus as much as I hate to admit it, Butters is pretty killer on the drums now."

It was true. Butters Stotch had never been good at many things, especially when it came to being involved in the boys' random schemes, but he had always had a love for the drums. It had taken months for him to summon up the courage to ask his parents for a proper drum kit, and when he eventually did ask, they declined claiming he'd make too much noise and he's have to be grounded every day for the rest of his life to make up for it. They did however get him professional lessons hoping it would help him to make some new friends besides the boys as they knew how socially awkward he was and they were two of the many parents of South Park who knew what a 'bad influence' Cartman could be on their children.

He had been going for about a year now and he had become very good. Because he wasn't really able to, he didn't do anything with his talents apart from drum his pencils on his desk, but he had personally decided that when he went to college he wanted to buy himself a drum kit and play it in every spare second he had. He had joined the school band at some point and shown his abilities to the everybody at their last school dance but since getting grounded by his parents for staying out too late he choose that just hiding it away for now was his best course of action.

"Yeah he is, but I'm not going against you again, Cartman. If you actually do decide to start a band though, I'll be your manager or something and then we can all enjoy the success together."

"Sweet!"

"Yeah, trust you to want to mooch off of my success, Jew. Ok, yeah, you can keep the books and stuff," Cartman nodded his head at Kenny with a grin on his face, "And the poor boy can be our assistant."

"Wait, what? What the hell! I don't want to be an assistant, I wanna be where the action is!"

"Well-" before Cartman had a chance to reply, he was interrupted by Wendy letting a short giggle slip, "What?" his voice wasn't angry like it had been last time, it just sounded curious, as were the other two boys who looked at the girl who was visibly holding back laughter.

"It's just... You come up with plans and ideas that most people would dismiss as soon as it was said and you actually go through with them. I mean, most people joke about stuff like that all the time, but nobody actually does anything about it. Like who actually discusses what bird they are and their band making strategies with it all being part of a 'normal' conversation? Nobody. Most just talk about other people's music and TV. I just find it interesting to... observe. Like you know how you guys were saying I'm not a normal girl, well you guys aren't normal guys either."

"Of course we're not, that wouldn't be any fun," Kenny replied, turning to face her with a shit-eating grin on his face, "Then we'd just be like everybody else. But you know you wouldn't like us any other way."

**A/N: 'Sup (again)? So I just added this scene in really to take the edge off of all the emotional stuff for a bit and also 'cause I was bored and really couldn't actually be bothered to do write the next stuff yet. It's not too long, just a short interval type thing. **

**So the next chapter they should get to where they're wanting to get to, because this journey just seems to be never ending!**

**It might take a while to upload though, it's proving to be a bit hard for me to write...**

**For anybody that skipped, Kenny doesn't die much anymore (he's on a lucky streak) and gets scared whenever he feels like he's going to (much to the amusement of all others present), the group know what birds they would be if they were in that part of the animal kingdom and Cartman and Kyle's platinum album bet is still technically on, though not going to be acted upon. If anything they're going to make a new band with Butters being their kickass drummer.**

**So... Yeah.**

**But anyway I hope you're enjoying the whole story so far, and even though this chapter has just been full of stupid jokes and a few flashback-y type memories, I hope it's been alright to read.**

**So once again, thanks for reading and don't be scared of the review button; it doesn't bite :3**

**XXX**


	14. Denver

After a lot more humming and singing and everybody seeming to be getting along much better than they had before, the group of teenagers had finally reached to Denver. It didn't take long for them to start seeing sign posts for the direction of the football stadium and for the car to fall back into anxious silence. Once again, Wendy clasped her fingers tightly around Kyle's as he sat deep in thought, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth slightly and his leg tapping at an increasing pace.

As the car slowed down and entered the car park of the football stadium, the teenagers all started darting their eyes around already for any sign of their estranged friend. They couldn't see him anywhere, just lot's of tourists walking around in groups looking at the sports ground. They all sighed as they filed out of the car and stood aimlessly waiting for kind of sign as to where to proceed to.

"So...where do we go?" Kenny asked slowly.

Kyle still had a contemplative look on his face as he took a few steps towards one of the entrances. He then stopped, turned around to look at his friends and then spun back around and broke into a run in the direction of the door. The others looked bemused for a moment but then quickly followed after him, not wanting to get lost without him.

Of the four, Kyle was the only one who had been there before. He had been there lots of times actually, more times than he could count. Not always by choice, but he had still gone all the same. The reason he had been so many times was because Stan had always wanted him to come along with him, claiming it wouldn't be as fun without him.

For his thirteenth birthday, Stan had been given an annual pass to attend all of the home games that the Denver Broncos had in their season. He had always been hard to buy presents for because he didn't really have any hobbies besides sports, football especially, and he had already gotten everything possible from that area of gifting. He had about five hockey sticks, seven footballs and eleven baseballs stacked up in his closet due to long distance family not really bothering to put any thought or effort into getting him something different for once. The pass he had gotten was from his parents, recommended by Kyle. They had gone to him when he had stayed the night once, begging for an idea of what to get him as they were stuck for ideas themselves and the redhead had recommended it as an ideal gift.

And it had been. Every weekend of the season, Stan joyfully made his way up to the stadium with Kyle (they had decided that they would get one for him as well, even though he wasn't that big of a football fan, so that the boys could go together- and also so that they wouldn't have to stay with Stan instead) in one of their parents' cars and would be dropped off there, ready to be picked up when it was done. Because they were still quite young, their parents had befriended one of the men working the refreshments stand who had happened to be one of Randy's old friends and asked him to watch over the boys and make sure they didn't 'get into too much trouble'. The man had agreed and eventually they built up a strong friendship with the boys helping to get business to the stand and getting free food and drinks in return.

Even after the season was over, Stan still begged to be able to go back and so for every birthday afterwards they would get the same pass so that they could go and experience the whole thing over and over. Kyle was starting to get sick of being dragged along and often tried to come up with excuses of why he couldn't go, but for the most part he stayed with him, mostly because it was often the happiest he ever saw his best friend. Whether they were in the stand cheering for the home team or coaxing unwilling tourists over to buy the over-priced beverages and food, Stan always had a broad grin on his face as he did so, the kind of smile that caused his super-best friend to feel all 'warm and fuzzy' inside, knowing that he was essentially the one that caused his happiness, which was enough to make him happy and get him to go along with it.

As he reached the doors, he scrambled around in his jacket, looking for the shiny bit of paper that would allow him to enter. He had it deep in the inside pocket of his jacket so that he would always remember it when they went. He didn't take it out in fear of losing it, but because he rarely took his jacket off anyway, it was secure in there, apart from being a bit crumpled. As he showed the pass to the man on the door, he shouted something inaudible to his friends and dashed off into the complex.

As they approached the door themselves, they were dismayed to find out that they couldn't enter without paying, and as they didn't have much money on them they were stuck sitting outside waiting for the redhead to come back. They made their way over to a long wooden bench that was covered over by a few low hanging trees and just sat in quietly.

Cartman was sitting on his right of the bench, grumbling under his breath to himself, saying something along the lines of 'this is going to be a waste of time,' but with a few more obscenities thrown into the mix. On the left side of it, Kenny was sat looking anxious, running his hands through his hair a few times, but then completely forgot about that after getting distracted by the foreign-looking girls that were passing in their tour group. In the middle, Wendy was sat in silence. Her face was pale and blank; she had no expression on it whatsoever and her eyes were fixed on one spot in front of her, although they weren't focused. Slowly, she lifted her left hand to her mouth and started nervously nibbling on the skin of her thumb knuckle, with her other one drumming on her leg.

After a while of more tense silence between the three, Cartman sighed heavily and was about to get up and go back to his car before something stopped him. Wendy's hand. It had discreetly slipped its way into his and she had hooked her pinkie finger around his one.

"Don't go. Not yet," she whispered quietly, her gaze unmoving.

After the initial shock of her touch, the large boy could feel his heart starting to race as she kept her finger entwined around his as he relaxed back down into his seat. He didn't know what to think. She held people's hands all the time- hell, she's been practically stuck to Kyle's for the entire day- her hands were her 'support system', she would always resort to doing something with them if she felt anxious about something, even if the rest of her body was frozen. But he couldn't stop past memories from flooding back through his mind. The ones from all those weeks two summers ago. Before Stan had come back and ruined it all. As that particular thought came to mind, he unconsciously ripped his hand away from her one.

He couldn't go through all that again. If they were going to find Stan today, he couldn't allow himself to go through what he had already been through once before. He couldn't jeopardise his newfound truce with Wendy by letting the raven haired boy ruin everything for them again, and the easiest way to ensure that was to stop himself from falling for her once again. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy to do as he hoped.

She tore her gaze away from the ground as she felt his hand jolt away from hers and stared up at the brunette who looked confused and worried, before flushing pink, "Sorry, it's habit..."

"Er... Yeah," he avoided her eyes and turned away from her slightly as he felt his own face heat up.

"Do you... Do you think we'll find him?" her voice was quiet as she resumed her gaze on the concrete in front of her.

"I think we'll find him or Kahl will die trying," he replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Yeah... I guess that's true. He's a great friend," her voice choked slightly as she spoke.

The larger boy turned to face her again, shocked to see a lone tear falling down her pale cheeks, "Wendy? What's wrong?"

She hesitated slightly as she could hear the genuine concern in his voice. She glanced over a Kenny who was still focused on women in passing tourist groups but before she could say anything she was interrupted.

"Kinny, get lost."

The boy looked surprised as he twisted his head back around, "What?"

"What's so hard to understand about that? Go chase after those women and get shot down or something, I don't know, just go away for a bit," he gestured in the direction of the tour group with a serious look on his face.

At first Kenny just raised his eyebrow and look like he was about to ask another question, but he caught sight of the group moving and just shrugged and chased after them, giving his hair a quick touch up before he left.

"So... What's wrong?" he turned his body so that he was fully facing her side. He yearned to reach out and touch her, but kept his self-control and just watched her patiently.

"I don't know anything about him..."

"About who?"

"Stan," she coughed quietly as Cartman sat in silence, not knowing how to respond before she started speaking again, "I would have never have guessed to go to all these places that Kyle's thought of. All these places that mean so much to him, and I didn't even know about them."

"It's not your job to know everything about him-"

"But it is! I'm supposed to be his girlfriend; I'm supposed to know him better than most people. Ok, so I get that Kyle probably knows more about him than I do, but the fact that there are all these things and places that are essentially what make Stan his happiest and I don't really know anything about them just... It just..." another tear fell down her cheek as her sentence trailed off, "The list was so long, Cartman. There were so many places Kyle wanted to check. So many reasons why they made him happy. So many reasons that they would be where he would choose to go. And I barely contributed to it whatsoever."

Cartman shifted awkwardly in his place, not really knowing the most reassuring thing to say in this situation and so in the end he just sighed and decided to tell her his honest opinion, "Good. He's an asshole."

Her eyebrows raised up slightly as she turned to look at the large boy staring back at her, "No he isn't."

"Yes he is. He tries to pretend he cares about people and stuff, but when it comes down to it he cares more about himself than anybody else," he stopped and realized that that was the exact opposite of how Wendy had described him. Heh, how about that.

She didn't respond for a moment, but then dipped her head down slightly, obviously having the same thought that he was, "When I was saying all that stuff before-"

"No, you don't need to explain it..." he went quiet, "Thanks."

She looked confused, "For what?"

"For saying all that stuff. I know I freaked out, but I've had time to think about it and, well, I think you know me more than I know myself..." his voice trailed off as he looked away, from her, pretending he was looking out for Kenny who was currently trying to chat up one of the women in the tour group.

"Well... I like that side of you... I just wish that we got to see him more often," she sighed quietly as she lay backwards onto the back of the bench to look up at the sky.

The sky was clear of any clouds and was pristine blue, although it was still so cold that they could see the breath escaping from their lips. Cartman slowly turned around and stared up with her, the sound of their breathing the only audible sound coming from them.

After a few more moments of silence, the larger let out a loud sigh.

"So... Do you really think I'm smart?"

Wendy let out a quiet giggle, "What?"

She turned her neck to see Cartman staring back at her, his chocolate eyes wide with a smug grin on his face, "You said I was smart."

"Yeah, and I also said that you hate to admit it. So admit it to me. Right now," she replied with another giggle.

"There are a lot of things I could admit to you, Wendy Testaburger, but if that's what you want to hear then: I admit that... you think I'm smart."

After failing to acknowledge the first part of his response, Wendy swatted at his leg playfully, "Cartman! Why won't you say it?"

"Because I always rip on Kahl for being so smart, so I can't say that I am or it'll just ruin a perfectly good insult," he said with a shrug.

"Well, I think you should just admit it anyway."

"Nah, I'm good."

"Why do you love insulting Kyle anyway?"

"I dunno. It's just habit I guess."

"It's a bad habit," she said with a slight frown but in a light-hearted tone.

"No it's not; it's our thing. It's just what we do. If we didn't argue... It'd be weird."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she looked down as she appeared thoughtful for a moment, "I know you really didn't want to come today..."

"Look, I know you probably think I'm an asshole, but I didn't-"

"Shh, I'm talking. You need to work on that," she hit his leg teasingly, "But I get that. You and Stan don't really see eye to eye, so it was to be expected. But," she looked back into his eyes, "If that was Kyle or Kenny would you go through all this to find them? Like without being prompted by someone else?"

His eyebrow quirked slightly but then relaxed as he pondered the thought, "Urm... I guess, yeah. I mean I know I rip on them both constantly, but without them..." his voice trailed off as he saw the wide grin growing on Wendy's face.

"See, you really are a caring person," she laughed quietly as she saw him raise his eyebrows in an offhanded manor, "It's nice. And even though they both complain about you I bet they would do the exact same for you."

Cartman scoffed, "In whose car?"

"That really isn't the point I'm trying to make," she giggled as she saw him smiling back at her.

As they sat gazing at each other for a few moments, a wide smile on each of their faces. It had taken all the willpower Cartman had not to lean in and take his chance with her whilst it was within reach, but as he quickly came to his senses and began to move backwards, he felt Wendy's thin fingers grace his cheek bones and her soft lips press gently against his. It took him a few seconds to realize what was happening, but as he did he wasted no time in returning it, just to be disappointed as she pulled away a few seconds later, a stunned look on her face.

"I... I... Stan..."she couldn't get any of her words out as she leaned back and darted her eyes around.

Cartman just watched her as she started to fret and sighed heavily, turning back away from her, "Why do you keep going back to him?"

Not expecting the question, Wendy just looked bemused, "What?"

"After all of the shit he keeps putting you through, why do you keep going back to him?" his voice sounded bitter as he lounged backwards with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I... He's just... I don't know..." her face looked sullen as she in turn faced the opposite direction, "He's just always so apologetic and I can't help but believe him. I mean, he makes me feel like he really wants me there with him, like he can't go on without me... and when I look at his face, it's so genuine and I just..."her voice trailed off.

"But he should make you feel like that all the time, not just when he gets bored and comes back grovelling..."

"I didn't mean to hurt you, you do know that don't you...?" her voice was quiet and timid as she started fiddling with her hands.

"I guess..." he exhaled loudly, "I just don't see what you see in that sonuvabitch."

"We've just been through so much together, Stan and I. I can't just deny that I care a lot about him..."

"It doesn't mean you have to put up with his crap..."

She just sighed inaudibly before turning back to face him, surprised to see him doing the exact same thing at the same time.

They just sat for a moment Cartman decided self-control just wasn't worth keeping and couldn't help himself before reaching out and holding her face between his two hands to make her look straight at him, her eyes wide "Wendy, you can do or say whatever you want after this, but just for a second, fuck Stan," before leaning in and kissing her deeply.

Her eyes fluttered shut as she relaxed in his hold and kissed him back passionately, their faces heated as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Once again, time had stopped for them; they were the only two people there and nothing was going to stop that.

* * *

Inside the stadium, Kyle was hurriedly darting towards the first place he could think of going; the refreshments stand. Every year it was the same man running the stand, his only day off being a Sunday. The same man who had watched over the boys for the last four years.

"Broflovski! Well isn't it a pleasant surprise to see you here!" he cheerfully greeted the redhead in true sportsman style with the boy's surname as he came to a halt in front of him, "What brings you down these parts?"

"Wyatt, is Marsh here?" he nodded in greeting but wasn't really in the mood to exchange pleasantries.

"Marsh? No, I'm pretty sure he ain't been down here today, I haven't seen him since the weekend. He was looking pretty sour when he got here though, so I left him be."

"The weekend? He could be anywhere by now!" Kyle moaned loudly as he slapped his forehead.

"What? What's going on with him? Is he in some kind of trouble?" Wyatt asked, his voice suddenly very concerned.

Wyatt Grandison was a middle aged man (about the same age as the boys' fathers) with faded black hair and quite pale skin. He kept his head covered with white, orange and blue cap with the logo sprawled across the front and had an apron with the same thing on, but bigger. He always wore the same crumpled white shirts and faded jeans underneath and the hair you could see poking out of the bottom of the hat was often messy and uncombed as he fell behind his neck. He was very tall and thick in stature although unlike his intimidating appearance he was actually one of the nicest adults the boys had ever known. He genuinely did care about the boys after he took on the responsibility of watching out for them and their regular visits brought a wide smile to his face when he saw them. He acted like an uncle to the boys, often helping them out with other problems they might have faced when they came to talk to him and so he seemed like an obvious contender for somebody Stan would turn to if he needed somebody. Besides Kyle, he was often one of the first people he would go to knowing that he wouldn't be judged and he would actually help him and not turn it into something even bigger and worse like people like his parents would.

"A whole mess of things happened and he just kind of... disappeared. And since you're kind of like family to us... I just thought he would be with you for now. This was the furthest place on my list, and I doubt he's gone back to South Park and I've already made a few calls to people he knows in Middle Park and I just don't know what else to do," his voice was getting louder as he began to get angrier at the situation, "What do I do?"

He blinked hard to try to prevent a few tears from escaping from his eyes as Wyatt came from around the counter and patted Kyle on the back firmly, "Broflovski, if there's one thing I've learnt about you two boys it's that you have a friendship that will last forever. I've seen you two go through hardships before and I don't know what's happened here," he gestured disapprovingly at the redhead's face that still had a few faint bruises across it, "But you're going to get through it."

"But how? I don't know where he is and I have no leads! I can't just go around aimlessly without a plan of where to go," his voice was choked as he spoke.

"Sometimes, things don't happen the way you want them to. What you need to do is just accept that and work around it."

"What? How the hell am I meant to do that?"

"Now, now, calm down son. When he got here, I knew something was up with him. He seemed very distant, said he made some mistakes and he needed to sort out his head. So maybe, he knows where he is and what he's doing and he'll come back to you when he's good and ready."

"But... but... I can't take that chance! I need to find him now and apologize to him..."

"Well you obviously can't exactly do that can you? So I think you're just going to have to take a back seat for a while and let life deal it's cards and see how it plays out."

"But what if I don't want to do that?" he moaned angrily.

"Well then you'll just have to stop being such a stubborn kid and learn to accept you don't always get to do what you want to," he chuckled half-heartedly, "At least it's good to see that you haven't changed over the years."

They stood outside of the booth silently for a few moments before they simultaneously wrapped their arms around the other. Kyle stood and let out a few held back sobs as Wyatt just patted his back sympathetically. He had spent so much time trying to solve everybody elses problems and keeping everyone else happy that he often forgot that he too sometimes needed to let his own feelings out. Just like Stan, when he didn't go to his super-best in regards to his problems, he would often bring them to the dark-haired man for the purpose of discretion and actual concern, instead of his mother who just seemed to declare war on anything and everything these days, now that she had free time from not having two young children to look after.

After about two minutes of just standing there, Kyle took a large sniff and pulled away, pulling a tissue out of his pocket to wipe at his eyes, "Ok. Ok, I'll just go home. I'll go back and I'll wait for Stan to call me on his own. He's a smart guy, he won't have gotten himself into too much trouble on his own. Yeah, he'll be fine and I'll just have to be fine accepting that," his voice was determined, "I will find him eventually, just probably not today. Yeah."

The boy seemed to be more trying to convince himself of the plan rather than tell it to Wyatt, however the redhead continued by pacing back and forth repeating these points to himself over and over until he had fully done so. Before long he had just stopped, taken a deep breath and headed in the direction of the exit before quickly turning back around, "Thanks. For everything."

"You're welcome, kid, you know I'm always here when you need me. So scram, get out of here," he gestured towards the exit with a lopsided grin on his face as the boy did as he was told and rushed back outside.

When he got outside the stadium, he searched around for any sign of his friends but was slightly nervous when he couldn't see them. He had told them to wait right by the front gates, but in his hurry he appreciated that they just might not have heard them. As he began to run in the direction of the car, he noticed a familiar looking orange parka and head of blonde hair. At first he hesitated to go over to the person as they were with a group and so it was unlikely that it was Kenny, but the more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that it was Kenny, especially as the person was standing with two girls giggling at him.

"Kenny! Get over here!" Kyle yelled as he approached the group, now certain it was his friend since he could hear the boy trying to seduce the girls with his extensive French vocabulary.

The boy looked startled as his eyes darted around looking for the source of his caller before scrunching up his face slightly when he saw Kyle shaking his head disapprovingly, "Don't look at me like that! They're actually French dude, how could I resist trying out my skills," he smiled smugly as the redhead just sighed and dragged the babbling blonde away who just squirmed away childishly, "Aw, come on Kyle, just let me carry on talking to them for a few more minutes."

"No, Kenny, we need to go."

"Where's Stan?" he pulled away and brushed himself off as Kyle just sighed.

"I don't know, but he's not here."

"So we can just start working backwards then," he shrugged his shoulders casually.

"No... we're just going to go back... home for now."

"What...? Why?"

"Because he's already been and gone from here, so I don't know whether he would have gone back to South Park or not and so it'll just be best to wait for him to come back to us..." he still sounded doubtful as he and Kenny started walking towards the car, before quickly stopping in his tracks, "Where are Cartman and Wendy?"

"Oh... Er... they were on that bench over there," he pointed at the empty seats, "but then I think she was all upset over something so I left so Cartman could talk to her."

"Alone?"

"Yeah, I guess they've just solved their problems and shit now."

"Really?" a small grin graced Kyle's faced, "Well at least one good thing that's come out of coming all the way out here then. But where are they now?"

"I really don't know. Those chicks were too hot for me to keep my concentration on them, to be honest."

"Damn it, Kenny, you really need to stop thinking with your penis..."

"Well it's not my fault I only have enough blood for it to make either my junk or my brain at one time, and it's much more fun to think with the first," he winked playfully at the redhead who just punched him in the arm in response.

"Fine, we'll go back to the car. They're probably just waiting for us there."

Sure enough, they were both back in the car, Cartman in the driver's seat, quietly drumming his fingers along to the hushed humming coming from the radio and Wendy in the back, her head rested on the window and her eyes shut as she breathed slowly.

As Kyle and Kenny whipped the door open, they were quickly quietened by the larger boy, "I'm not completely sure, but she might be asleep. After all that's happened, I think she's just completely drained. We came back to the car because I thought it would be better than having her wait in the cold."

As they both took their seats in the car, Kyle couldn't help but smile again, "So it's true? You two have sorted your problems out now?"

A small smirk spread across his face, "I guess you could say that."

After everybody was had their seatbelts on, (Kyle had reached over Wendy and carefully done hers for her) Cartman started the car and drove back out of the car park. They had gotten a decent way down the road before the larger boy finally spoke, his voice still hushed, "So, I'm guessing you didn't find Stan then?"

"No," Kyle himself felt completely exhausted from the day's happenings.

"So where are we headed next?"

"Home."

"Really? You're finally realizing that you don't need that hippy and giving up on him? I guess there's hope for you yet, Jew boy," he mocked.

"Shut up fat boy," Kyle growled, "I'm not giving up on him. I'm just going to let him come to us instead of us going to him. We're not going to find him unless we just drive around randomly; we've got nowhere else to go."

"Whatever you say, but I still think you should give up on him. But I don't want to go home yet, so what should we do?"

"You've been trying to get us to go home all day and now that we are, you want to stay here? What the hell, Cartman, stop purposely trying to piss me off!"

"I'm actually not purposely trying to annoy you this time," he shrugged casually, "I just can't be bothered to drive all the way home yet. It just seems like a wasted journey."

"Well... I don't know where anything else is here, so I don't know what we could do."

"Hey, look!" Kenny suddenly perked up, "There's a Harbucks around that corner, we could stop there for a bit."

"Yeah, good idea," Cartman quickly swerved the car before he missed the turning and parked up in front of the shop before turning around to look at the two teens in the back of the vehicle, "Do you think we should wake her up?"

Kyle looked thoughtful for a moment, "I'm not sure..." he gently touched her hand before speaking softly, "Wendy? Are you awake?"

She stirred slightly but then relaxed back into her seat, her eyes staying tightly shut. She looked peaceful as she lightly snoozed so the boys came to a group consensus to leave her in the car as to not disturb her. It was a safe area, it wasn't like anybody was going to come and kidnap her and she had her cell phone on her so if she suddenly woke up all she's have to do is call them to ask them where they were.

As they walked through the doors of the building, they were greeted by the sweet scent of coffee and chocolate. The walls were a mix of burnt orange and cream in colour and the wooden chairs were painted cream with chocolate coloured tables. It was a lot larger, more sophisticated and homely than the small version in South Park and made the boys simultaneously gasp in amazement. They made their way to a small booth in the corner of the room, Kyle and Kenny on one side and Cartman on the other as they gazed up at the board with the menu on. They took a while making their choices, mostly because Kenny spent most of the time trying to convince Cartman to buy him a drink. Surprisingly, the larger boy gave up the fight pretty easily and ended up buying all three of their drinks, much to the glee of the other two.

"Make the most of it, especially you, you stingy Jew," he poked Kyle as he walked over with tray of beverages.

"I'm not stingy! I've already bought you food today you unappreciative asshole," he grumbled as he slid back into the booth.

"Whatever you say," he said with a smirk.

As they all took their first refreshing sips of their drinks, Kyle suddenly spoke again, "So Cartman, what did you talk about with Wendy?"

The boy was so startled at the mention of her name he nearly choked, "What? What do you mean?"

"I mean you just seem... more comfortable around her now. Like, less angry."

"So? What's wrong with that?" Cartman responded, a bit too defensively.

"Well, nothing, I was just wondering what you two talked about to sort things out."

"Nothing... I think our feelings are pretty much known towards... the situation," he feigned a cough as he continued, "and now we're fine. So just leave it at that."

"But-"

"Hey, I know you're a chick and you like to talk about feelings and gossip over cups of coffee but I don't do that crap," he laughed as Kenny snorted his own drink out of his nose at the comment, "Ew, gross Kinny! If you're gonna do that, turn and face Kahl when you do it, that'd be hilarious. I can just imagine your face, it's be all like-" he pulled a comical face that made Kenny nearly snort it out again, but remembering to turn to Kyle's direction.

"Kenny! What the hell!" the redhead pushed Kenny away from him, a look of disgust on his face, "You two are such idiots."

"Ah, ah, ah, Kahl. Kinny might be an idiot, by I my dear Jew buddy, am not," his familiar sly grin creeping onto his face as his two friends groaned loudly.

"Damn it, Wendy!"

The boys started off into a long conversation of idle chit-chat as they laughed and sipped their drinks in glee. They periodically found new ways of winding each other up and causing petty arguments like they always did and ended up with each of the boys hittin each other over the head with bundles of tissues before the manager came over and asked them to be quiet or to get out.

Surprisingly, they actually did quieten down a bit and they stayed in there about fifteen minutes more before they eventually left, all revitalized and in high spirits. Just before they all boarded back into the car, the song All Star by Smash Mouth could be heard ringing out from Cartman's jeans pocket.

"Dude, why the hell is that your ringtone?" Kenny laughed as he heard it.

"Because I'm a fricking all-star that's why," he responded with a shrug and then flipped the blonde off as he fell into another bout of laughter before finally answering the phone, "Hello?"

He leaned against the wall of the building, a confused look on his face as he listened to the person on the other side, "Bu- Bu- Butters! Shut up for a minute!" the large boy closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck in frustration, "I can't understand a word of what you're saying, slow down, retard."

As he continued to listen to what they boy had to say, his eyes widened slightly but then narrowed. He looked a bit annoyed but quickly called Kyle over and asked for a pen and the scrap of paper he had had his list of place on. He quickly scribbled down a long address onto the paper and then hung up the phone with a loud sigh.

"What's that for?" Kyle asked curiously.

Pretty ambiguously Cartman just raised his eyebrows and replied, "We're not going home yet," before pushing past him and telling him to get in the car.

He obediently did so, but as the fat-boy put the details into his navigation system and started racing in the direction it told him to, the redhead couldn't help but be intrigued as to where they were going, "Cartman, where the fuck are we going? Who was that on the phone?"

"Butters."

"Butters? What did he say?" Kenny asked, equally as confused.

"He told me where to go."

"What? He knows where Stan is?" Kyle's voice was mixed with bewilderment and delight as he thought back to what Wyatt had said to him about letting life play out on its own terms.

"Stop distracting me, Jew, I don't have a clue where I am so it's hard enough to navigate without your yapping in my ears."

The redhead just ignored this comment and sat back in his seat with a massive grin on his face. He knew that Cartman knew where he was and just didn't want to admit it. They were going to find Stan. They were going to find him and bring him home. They were going to find him and they were going to go back to the good times, how things always were. They were going to find him and things were going to be great again. They were going to find Stan.

The journey to their destination was quite long from the Harbucks and took them to the outskirts of the city. Halfway through the journey Wendy woke up from her nap and was equally as thrilled to hear where they were going. They had to cross quite a big bridge just before they got there, much to Kenny's anguish but they eventually pulled up outside of a large group of buildings surrounded by forests. It seemed to be a type of camp site and had the underlying murmurs of children's chatter coming from it as they approached. As they darted their eyes around to look for their lost friend, all but Cartman were ecstatic to see a familiar blue hat making its way across the site.

"Stan! Stan, over here!" Kyle yelled gleefully to his super-best friend.

"Kyle?" the raven haired boy twisted around, glancing around for the source of the voice.

Just as they locked sight on each other however, a small curly haired blonde teenager came from behind Stan murmured something frantically and started hurriedly rushing him into one of the surrounding cabins after noticing the group staring at them. He pushed the boy inside, locked the door, glanced at the teens and then just quickly walked away rubbing his hands together and whispering something to himself.

"What the hell?"

**A/N: Okay, so here we go, Stan's back in there, just like I promised  
I know it was only for one paragraph, but he'll absolutely definitely be in the next one now, so yay? Haha :D**

**AND an amazing amount of Kudos to anybody who can guess where they are? :D It's not got an amazing amount of description, (I don't think I would have made the connection myself) (and the actual location may not actually be in Denver...hmm... But it seems most likely that it is) but if you know where it is you must be an absolute superfan! :D**

**So like quite a few people have given me advice on how they think I should continue with the story, but they all contradict each other and after taking on loads of different views I've just confused myself so I'm sticking with my current stuff sorry :-/**

**There's not going to be too much focus on Candy from now on, the only reason I stuck that stuff in here was because I just wussed out of another confrontation scene, I was going to make them fight, but i couldn't really make it sound right and I can't imagine Cartman getting all emotional and I needed some filler...**

**Oh, and er, look out for some slash...**

**I don't think this is one of my best, but I thought it would be kind of unlikely that they would just 'happen' to run into Stan somewhere, so i didn't really know what to do with them...**

**Hmm... hopefully the next one will be better... **

**Thanks for reading ^.^**

**XXX **


	15. Pocket Knife

"Oh well, looks as though he doesn't want to come back with us," Cartman crossed his arms and started walking backwards towards the car, "I guess, we'd better just start heading back home now."

"Yes he does! He just got locked in a cabin, jackass! What the fuck is going on here? What is this place?" Kyle sounded annoyed as he tried to work out what exactly was happening.

"Camp New Grace," Wendy had been standing quietly but spoke up, pointing towards a large sign that was hammered into the ground in the distance with a large cross next to it.

Kyle stood silently as he examined the sign and then observed his surroundings. He didn't know how to respond to the situation. On one hand, he now knew where his best friend was and that he was safe (or wasn't dead suffocating on a street corner in his own vomit at least; he didn't have a clue what was happening inside this camp), but on the other hand he had had to rely on Cartman and _Butters_ of all people to know where to find him. It just made him feel like a really crappy friend, but he didn't have time to mope about that right now, he had to go and free his friend from whatever crap was going on here.

Just before he was about to run over to the cabin he had seen the raven haired boy get locked inside of, his thought wandered back for a moment, "Cartman, how _did_ Butters know Stan was here? Did he call him or something?"

The larger boy just raised his eyebrow before laughing deeply, "What, you scared you're losing your faggy best friend to that dopey retard? I don't have a clue how he knew to be honest. I think he told me actually, but I could barely understand what he was saying because he was talking so fast."

"Shut up fat boy!" the redheaded boy looked contemplative for a moment before shaking the thoughts out of his head and running away from them.

The leftover teens just stood and watched him for a moment before glancing at each other. Wendy was the first to chase after Kyle, sprinting behind him, followed by Kenny and then an annoyed and slow-moving Cartman.

Although he knew they were going to find Stan eventually and he had wanted to find him as soon as possible before so that they could get home, he was happy when they had decided to give up their search, just to be frustrated again when he knew where to actually find him. He had even considered just not going to get him and pretending Butters had called about something else completely, but he didn't want to risk the timid blonde blabbing to his friends afterwards about the dark haired boy's whereabouts. He knew they would be absolutely livid if they found out he had known and not told them- an easily-angered Kyle especially-so he just thought it would be best to just suck it up and bring them to Stan. What happened from there on out was nothing to do with him.

Kyle sped up as he reached the door and started hammering down on it, calling out his friend's name loudly, "Stan! Open the door, Stan! It's me, Kyle!"

He could hear some faint mumbling from the other side and then some furious shaking of the door knob, but he didn't come out.

"Stan? Can you hear me?" he spoke in a normal voice and got no reply and so he went back to shouting at the top of his voice, "Stan? Is there any other way you can get out?"

There was some more hushed noises coming from behind the thick door and so Kyle, and the now present Wendy, deduced that the walls were probably sound proofed or something along those lines and so it was very difficult to understand what the other was saying.

Kyle looked deep in thought as he paced back and forth outside of the door, trying to come up with a way of opening the door.

"Maybe he can climb out of a window?"

"That's a great idea!" the redhead nodded appreciatively at the blonde who had just caught up with them, "Stan! Stan, climb out of the window..." he looked at the walls of the building. There were no windows at the front, but there were two at the sides, one on each, "...Go to the one on the left hand side," there was another mutter before Kyle sighed, "If you just asked who's left, I mean our left, obviously," he was well trained at interpreting muffled speech.

The group of teenagers, minus Cartman, raced round to the other window and were delighted to see the boy peering down at them, a wide smile on his face. He quickly scrambled at a few bolts of the window before his smile turned into a frown, his eyebrows knitted in frustration. He appeared to shout something in his anger, but they couldn't really interpret it this time, although it didn't seem all that important of a thing to have heard, he was probably just cursing. The dark haired boy pinched the bridge of his nose for a long time; his eyes closed tightly before he opened them again quickly and mouthed something to Kyle.

The redhead tried to understand what he had said, but he just couldn't focus his thoughts properly. It wasn't until he realised Stan was banging on the window violently that he snapped out of it and realized what he was saying. He was trying to smash it open. Kyle punched his fist as hard as he could at it, but due to his fists still being incredibly sore, his body being weak right now generally and his tiredness from his day of searching it didn't do anything but cause his fist more hurt.

Stan glanced at his best-friend's hand as it connected with the glass and a look of guilt spread across his face before he continued to bang on the window. It obviously wasn't made from normal glass; it was probably made of plastic or something like that. He looked around the cabin for something to add to his force, but all that was in the room was two plain beds and a pillow and a bed sheet aren't really very helpful in breaking open a window.

Outside of the building, Kenny had joined in with trying to get it open by gathering a lot of heavy and sharp rocks to smash or cut through it. Neither of them worked and the frustration began to grow between them all as it seemed to become more helpless.

"Where's the fat-ass? I need his pocket knife..." Kenny thought out loud as he tried to scratch two stones together in an attempt to sharpen them.

Kyle stopped mid-hit as he heard the comment, "Wait... That's it!" he ran away from the window and back around to the front where he saw Cartman leaning against the wall lazily, "Dude, we need your help!"

"What? Why do you need my help? Haven't I already helped you enough?" he replied bitterly.

"Look, I just need one thing from you, then you can carry on being a dick about this whole thing. I just need... your fat ass," he quickly explained himself as he witnessed the look of repulsion on his friend's face, "I mean, I need you to break the door down for us."

His eyebrow quirked, "Why can't you lot do it?"

"Because you're... bigger than I am. And Kenny couldn't break a fricking pencil. And well Wendy... She's a girl; we can't expect her to break down a door."

"She could probably do it actually," Cartman said gruffly before heaving himself off of the wall, "Who say's I'll be able to do it anyway? If you can't break a window, what hope do I have with a fucking door?"

"Well you broke the one at the hospital clean off-"

"Kyle, what the hell are you doing back there?" they could hear Kenny calling at them from around the corner.

"Just do it! Please, Cartman!" Kyle pleaded as the larger boy just sighed.

"I can try, but don't get pissy at me if it doesn't work, Jew," he squared himself up against the door.

"Fine whatever, just hurry up!"

Cartman took a deep breath and launched his body at the door, putting his full force into it. The door quivered slightly but stayed in place. He tried for a second time and once again it trembled but this time he heard a faint crack in it. On his third try, there was a loud crunch in the lock and it only took another weak push to get the door unlocked. As it swung open, they saw Stan come running out at them. He nodded gratefully at Cartman who just sighed and went back to leaning against the wall and staring off into the distance and went straight to Kyle who was beaming next to him.

"Kyle, I'm so so _so_ sorry about w-what I did. I-I shouldn't have overreacted like that, I was being such an asshole a-and I'm so sorry-" he started pacing, attempting to get his words out and failing before his best friend cut him off by pulling him into a giant hug.

"Dude, it's fine, seriously, I'm over it. I'm just so happy you're ok," the boys stayed held together for a while before they eventually separated and Stan ran over to Kenny and Wendy.

When they had heard all of the banging they had come back around to the front and were standing to the side of them. When the raven haired boy went over to them, he was brought into another tight embrace by Wendy as she refused to let him go. He felt a hand patting him on the back and assumed it was Kenny but squeezed the dark haired girl tighter whilst whispering 'I'm so sorry' into her ear over and over again.

After Cartman realized what was happening, he just sighed deeply and started walking back to the car. He _really_ didn't like 'that stupid hippy', so why was he going to stay around and join in with the happy reunion with his other friends?

"Cartman?" he felt somebody pull on his arm and twisted around to see Kyle standing below him, his smile still wide.

"What do you want now? You've found your stupid best friend so you don't need me anymore. Just hurry up with the reunion and get back to the car so we can go home."

His smile vanished as he saw the look of hurt Cartman was trying to disguise in his eyes, "I was about to say thank you..." he pulled again at his friend's arm as he tried to move away from him and walked at a fast pace next to him, "Cartman... just because we've found Stan doesn't mean we can't all still be friends... I mean, we've gotten on so much better over the last week and that doesn't have to change..."

Cartman scoffed, his voice bitter, "Whatever, you stupid Jew. As if I'd want to be friends with you. I was just being nice because you were sick and it meant I could get a few days off of school. I really don't give a crap about you or that stupid hippy."

The redhead stopped in his tracks and watched the larger boy walk off. He knew that what he said wasn't true; Cartman had done a lot more for him than just stay with him and he knew that they had both bonded a lot more over the last few days even if he wouldn't admit it, but nevertheless the comment still stung. He tried to respond, but he just couldn't get any words out. He could hear his other friends behind him calling out his name but he couldn't tear his gaze away from Cartman. After a few moments more of stunned silence, it was as if something inside of him just suddenly snapped.

"Get back here you fucking sonuvabitch! I don't give a shit about what you just said, you did fucking care what happened to me, so I'm not taking that crap!" the large boy stopped and turned back to Kyle with a smug grin on his face, "Don't you fucking smirk at me like that! What's so fucking funny?"

He started walking back towards the hot-headed boy, "You are."

"What? Why?" his fists clenched by his sides as he squared up against the boy who was much taller than he was and had now stopped in front of him, but the size difference had never fazed him.

Cartman stayed quiet for a moment and then looked down in the redhead's eyes, his impish grin still on his face "The fire, Kahl."

Instead of responding straight away, Kyle just growled deeply and punched his friend in the stomach, to which the other doubled over, "I swear, you are such a dick, Cartman!"

As he regained his composure, he looked back at the redhead who now looked less angry and just more upset, "Ok, fine, we can still be... you know... friends or whatever..." he just shrugged his shoulders, "But I'm not going to be nice to you, though."

Kyle let his face smooth back out into another smile, "I wouldn't expect it to be any other way."

As the two teenagers continued to talk in the middle of the camp, they were soon approached by a small girl. She looked around ten and had long brown hair that was tied up in a pony-tail and wore a light blue t-shirt with plain grey jeans.

"Could you come with me please?" she looked back and forth from Kyle and Cartman and then gestured for them to follow her.

Kyle was about to do so before he felt his friend drag him back, "Where are you going? You can't just follow a random kid, she could be trying to kill you or something. Plus, I'm sure I already made it clear that I want to go home, Jew."

"What the hell, Cartman? She's not going to kill me!" he stopped and looked like he was actually considering the idea before shaking his head, "Why would she even want to do that?"

"Maybe she's fallen madly in love with your douche bag hippy of a friend and doesn't want you take him away," he laughed as he saw the redhead raise his eyebrow at him, "Ok, maybe not, but in all those horror movies and stuff there's always that creepy little girl who looks nice enough but then ends up actually leading everyone to their deaths."

"You seriously need to stop watching so many movies, dude," he turned back to the girl, "Why do you want us to come with you?"

"Those were my orders," Cartman smiled smugly at Kyle who had glared back at him as the girl spoke.

"Who gave you those 'orders'?"

"The camp counsellor. I was told to bring the boy in the green hat and whoever he had with him."

"Me? Why me? And who's that? Where are you bringing me?"

"I think it would be a lot faster if you just came with me instead of asking me so many damn questions," she sighed and promptly turned on her heel and gripped onto Kyle's arm, effectively dragging him along with her, to which Cartman started laughing loudly but he followed along behind them anyway.

She pulled them in the opposite direction of their other friends, who hadn't yet realized that they had moved from their spot between the cabin and the car, and pulled them into a large room. It was practically empty except for a few empty chairs in front of a large desk and bigger chair turned around behind it. As the two boys and the little girl entered the room, they glanced at each other in confusion and Cartman burst out laughing as he saw the big chair swivel around to reveal who was sitting there.

"Are you being... seriously?" he continued laughing between breaths as the person began to look annoyed, "I mean... Come on, dude... What is this...? James frickin Bond...? Oh my God, you know what... Where's your fluffy little kitteh? You need a kitteh to stroke!" he chuckled deeply as he glanced Kyle who looked like he wanted to start laughing too.

"That's enough!" his voice was loud but quite hesitant, "I've been expecting you," as soon as the words passed his lips he frowned and smacked his forehead with his hand as both of the other teenagers burst into laughter.

"This guy's hilarious! What is this place, some kind of a comedy camp? Dude, about what I said before, I think we've been sucked into one of those really funny horror movies instead of the just gruesome ones," he continued to double over as he saw Kyle just roll his eyes at him whilst still giggling slightly.

"No, this is not a comedy camp and you are not... sucked into a movie?" he looked confused at the boys comment but carried on, "This is a camp to help young people to get through their problems when the people in their lives obviously haven't been able to do the job," he raised his eyebrow as the two other teenagers stopped laughing. "As you've probably guessed now, I've called you in here to talk about Stanley Marsh."

Kyle narrowed his eyes slightly before approaching the table and banging his fists down on it loudly, "You're that dick that locked him in that cabin! What the hell did you do that for?"

"He was going to leave. We couldn't let him leave."

"Well he's going to leave and there's nothing you can do about it-" as he turned around to leave he saw the small girl locking the door and pushing the key down her top.

"What is she even pushing that into? It's not like she's old enough to have anything there," Cartman muttered under his breath before walking up to the table to join Kyle, "What do you want from us then?"

The small blonde teenager that was sitting in the chair leaned backwards and looked up at the two other boys, addressing Kyle, "I want you to leave this place; you, your fat friend and the other boy and girl you brought with you."

Cartman nearly flew across the table in anger as the blonde just pushed his wheeled chair backwards to avoid the boys grasp, "Don't call me fat you asshole! Who the fuck are you anyway to tell us to leave?"

"I'm one of the top camp counsellors here. I have plenty of authority to tell you to get off of this property."

"What's your name?" Kyle butted in before Cartman could start shouting again.

"My name is Bradley, Kyle," he pushed one of his hands through his golden curls as a few fell in front of his face as he pushed his chair back forwards to the table, "And I'd much prefer it if you both sat down if you are going to pursue this further.

As Kyle went to sit down, his face looking confused he felt Cartman drag him back up, "We're not pursuing anything further because we're leaving right now! Come on, Kahl."

The redhead hesitated for a moment, before turning back to look at Bradley "How do you know my name?"

"I recognize you from the photos. You really do love that hat, don't you?" he sighed with a small smile on his face, "Your hair is so nice Kyle, it's such a beautiful red colour and the curls are so cute. You really should wear it out more."

"What the hell?" the boy started backing away from the table quickly as they both stared at the boy behind the desk.

"How do you know anything about the Jew boy's hair? Are you some kind of fucking stalker or something?"

"What? Of course not. That would be odd," he still had a weird smile on his face; it didn't appear to be one of joy, but it wasn't smug like how Cartman usually smiled, it was just a very strange emotion that they couldn't really interpret.

"Then why are you talking about my hair? Nobody sees my hair. Why do know anything about my hair?" Kyle asked with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"I already told you. I recognize you from photos. But that's not what we're here to talk about-"

"Photos from where?"

"Butters."

"W-what?" his voice cracked slightly as he heard his other friend's name.

"As I said, that's not what we're here to talk about," he waved his hand in the air as if it would change the subject; "The fact of the matter is you cannot stay here and you must leave."

"How the hell do you know Butters?" Cartman demanded getting visibly irritated by Bradley's ambiguity in answering their many questions.

"Ah, Eric. So loud and controlling, just like he said you were."

"He said I was controlling?" he looked appalled as he looked towards Kyle who just shrugged his shoulders, "What else has he told or shown you?"

"Quite enough for me to have realized who your friend Stanley was," he looked at the larger boy and saw him raise his eyebrow, "Well, Kyle's friend. Best friend in fact. You on the other hand, you're not so close, but you've known each other since you were toddlers, so you feel like you need to tolerate him to stay in your group of friends because you're scared that if they had to choose they would pick him over you."

"Why are you trying to analyse me? Just open the door and we'll fucking leave, just like you want," he growled, his voice bitter.

"I'm not going anywhere without Stan, Cartman... So what was it you knew about him?"

"Well he was walking around Denver when I saw him. I recognized him almost immediately, although he obviously didn't know who I was at the time. He looked lost and confused and so I invited him to come here. After explaining what it was, he was pretty happy to come along. So I can't let you take him now, he's happier here. A lot happier than he was back in South Park."

"Well he seemed pretty fucking happy to see us when we got here, so obviously he's not happier here!" Kyle moved back in front of the table to confront him, "I'm bringing him home."

He stormed back the door on the other side of the room as Cartman thrust his hand out to the little girl, "Give me the key."

She glanced warily at Bradley and then shook her head furiously, "No."

"What?"

"I said... no."

"Look kid-" he towered above her as she started to squirm.

"Cartman, don't do something stupid..."

"She's the stupid one," he turned back to yell at her, "Give it to me!"

He felt tempted to just yank it out himself, but obviously due to its location he couldn't exactly do that, which was obviously the plan all along. She looked as though she was about to say something, but then she quickly ran away from the tall teenager and hid behind Bradley's chair, squatting down in an attempt to not be seen.

"Can you two just sit down, so we can discuss this properly?" the curly blonde was resting on his left arm, looking short of patience before sighing to himself, "I knew I shouldn't have told Butters he was here."

"There's nothing to discuss!"

"Stanley is in no mental state to go home. If you take him now, he could very well have another mental breakdown and cause you a lot more trouble than a few bruises," he looked sympathetically at Kyle who just narrowed his eyes at him.

"How do you know about that?"

"He's on a learning cycle of reflection and self-discovery. Part of that has included him thinking about all events that lead up to him wanting to leave and I helped him to do that as seen as I already knew quite a lot about... your history."

"Fucking stalker..." Cartman muttered.

"I already told you Eric, I'm not a stalker. It isn't my fault if Butters likes to share a lot of information about his life," he nodded happily as the two boys came and sat on two of the empty chairs in front of his desk, "You guys are obviously a very big part of it. He says you all like to take a lot of pictures as memories of things, and he's sent me quite a few of them to see for myself. It also seems to have helped Stanley with his own emotions too. They helped him reflect on life as he was on his journey to what eventually became, here."

"Why are you in such close contact with Butters?" the redhead asked quietly.

"He was the one who assured me I was gay. And then on top of that, he saved my life," he saw the looks of confusion that spread across their faces and sighed, "We were both sent to this camp when we were younger because our parents thought we were... bi-curious. Whilst we were there we became good friends, good enough friends for me to begin to have a crush on him. Sweet, naive and innocent Butters, he didn't understand what I meant when I eventually told him I 'liked' him, but then I felt like there was no more hope for me because I was 'impure'. It was Butters who convinced me to get off of the bridge and to accept myself for who I was. I used to have a lot of nervous ticks, like I would constantly repeat Bible verses to myself to try to convince myself that not being straight was a bad thing, but Butters helped me get through it and I've stopped that now. I used to be so shy and socially awkward, but that's all changed now. I started working here and I've had no choice but to develop my people skills and stuff since then. We didn't live close, but Butters and I stayed in contact and have continued to be such good friends ever since then."

The boys sat and listened, perplexed by the whole explanation, not being able to form any reasonable response, "Bi-curious...?"

Bradley sighed, "Yes Eric. Obviously that was just the term our parents used for them thinking we were gay, but we were only kids, we didn't know what was happening to us and so they hoped we were just 'curious'. Most of us knew that we were actually gay; most of the children here were older than we were and were more sure of themselves, but we were kept in denial from by our parents who tried to 'cure' us, so most people who made it in... Didn't make it out..." his voice trailed off.

"Dude..." Kyle looked stunned.

"But that was in the past. When my father found out I myself had tried to... He took it upon himself, with my help, to get the place changed from being its original gay-hating place of torture to what it is today."

"...A more gay place of torture?" Cartman offered, a small grin on his face, before he was nudged in the ribs by Kyle.

"Ok, so if you're on this learning journey or whatever, when can Stan come home?"

"When he is comfortable within himself. When he's sure of who he is. This camp isn't here to rush people into thinking a certain belief; its here to get them to come to their own conclusions about life and to learn how to live happily."

"But there's a giant cross outside."

"Well yes, this is a Christian camp, but that doesn't mean we force people to believe Christian ways. Stanley is already a Christian, so that helps us to get him to pray for guidance."

"Ok, whatever dude, but he can pray at home."

"No he can't, not in the same way he could here. Look, Kyle, I know you care a lot about him," he sighed as he leaned back into his chair, "and he obviously cares a lot about you too, so the best thing for you to do is to just let him stay here. Stanley seeing you here could have negative effects on his progress. You just need to leave him alone for now."

"What if I'm not prepared to do that?" the redhead replied determinedly.

"Then you are obviously not as good a friend as you've been described to be, Kyle."

The redhead hesitated for a moment before sighing and glancing at his brunette friend who was currently crossing his arms across his chest and narrowing his eyes at the blonde, "Maybe he's right, Cartman..."

"What? You're going to let the asshole convince you to leave?"

"Well..."

"Don't take the piss, Jew boy! After all of the shit you've put me through, you're just going to walk away?"

"But what if he goes home and it totally screws him over? What is he just goes crazy again and he ends up not having anywhere to go? At least this time he's been somewhere safe..."

"Safe? This place seems like a frickin' loony bin, Kahl! The only reason that he's going to be screwed over today is if we leave him," he seemed to be agitated before sneering, "I really don't give a flying fuck what happens to him, I've already made that point clear, but I really am not willing to hear you whining about him forever when you realize that I was right."

Kyle looked thoughtful for a moment, "Can we at least ask him what he thinks? Let him choose whether or not he wants to go? That way I won't feel so guilty either way."

"You know as well as I do that if given the choice, Stanley will choose you in a heartbeat," he shook his head as he leaned forward, his hands held together, "Even if you both know that isn't what is best for him."

"Stan's smart, he'll know to do what's best for him."

"He'll know he should, but that doesn't mean he will do it, Kyle."

"Well I'm going to ask him what he thinks and I'm going to leave it up to him," he glanced at his fists but quickly faced back to Bradley, "No matter the risk. He's my best friend; I can't just leave him here if it's not where he wants to be."

"Well you're not going to be able to do that."

"And why is that?" Cartman growled from beside the redhead.

"Because he's reflecting in his cabin. He cannot be interrupted."

Cartman let out a quick snort of laughter before Kyle glanced at him awkwardly, "He's not in his cabin though."

"Yes he is. I guided him in there myself. Didn't you say you saw that?" he looked confused.

"Yeah... we saw that... and it pissed us off. So we kinda... broke open the door," he tried to sound as casual as possible but cringed as he saw the look of shock on the curly blonde's face.

"How the..." he glanced at Cartman who just shrugged at him, his signature grin plastered across his face, "We need to get him back in there, he's definitely not going anywhere with you people now."

He jumped out of his chair and ran to the door, his own bunch of keys being rapidly pulled out of his pocket and thrust into the lock as he dashed out of the room. The other two teens followed after him, shouting at him to stop but he just ignored them as he ran towards the cabin. At first he saw Wendy, Kenny and Stan all sitting on the grass talking normally, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. It took them a while to realize Bradley running up to them, but as soon as they did Stan jumped up in shock and tried to back away before realizing Cartman and Kyle running up behind him.

"Stanley, get back inside, it's not good for you to be out here with," he glanced at the other two teens on the ground, "them. You know you're better off here without them."

"Dude, I know you've been saying I need to be in solitude and I need to discover something about myself, but I feel way better now than I have the entire time I've been here. I think what I need is to go home with my friends," he flashed a small smile at Kyle who warmly returned it.

"See, I told you Bradley, he _is_ much better off with us than staying here."

"Really? So when you get back in that car and start speeding off back to South Park, you're not all going to start questioning him and then sending his mind into over-drive to a point where he feels to lash out again?" he turned to face the redheaded teen, "Because I highly doubt that won't happen."

"What are you trying to say, dude?" Stan interjected angrily, "I was just going through a rough time when you saw me. I'm sorted now, my head's clear, there's nothing more for me to 'learn' or whatever. So why would I lash out?"

"You have a lot of demons, Stanley. You may think that you're 'sorted', but you're not."

"Yes I am, I have my best friend here, I don't need you," he went and stood by Kyle's side and stared at the curly haired blonde, "If anybody can help me, it's him."

Bradley observed him and then sighed, "I don't doubt that, but I feel it will take you a lot longer to solve your problems when you're not here."

"I don't really care."

"You should."

"I-"

"Look, he wants to go home and I told you that if he wants to go, we're taking him home, so just leave it," Kyle interrupted as he started to drag the raven haired boy towards the car.

The blonde just watched them all leave silently before suddenly blurting out, "So why can't Wendy help you Stanley?"

The boy froze and turned around, "What?"

"You said that Kyle can help you with your problems, and that's fine, Kyle's a very smart person," he nodded at the redhead who was looking more confused everytime the blonde opened his mouth, "But so is your girlfriend, Wendy. Or whatever you are right now. All I'm wondering is why you don't want her help."

"I didn't say I didn't want her help..." he looked over at Wendy who looked more shocked than anything else, "I was just saying Kyle because you obviously met him at some point today... and you don't know Wendy, so it would make more sense to mention Kyle instead."

"You could have mentioned both."

"I wasn't really thinking about that at the time... Just assume I said Wendy too."

"But I can't do that. I know a lot about Wendy already," he smiled weakly at the dark haired girl who was now fidgeting in her spot with her fingers drumming unsteadily on her leg, "I know plenty from both you and Butters."

"So?"

"So, I think you need to contemplate why you didn't say you wanted her to help you. When you first realized you had a problem, who did you go to?"

"Well, Kyle... but that's because Wendy was in the hospital so I couldn't really-"

"Hospital?" Cartman looked shocked as he glanced over at the two dark haired teens, "Why was she in hospital?"

Stan shot a confused look at Kyle who sighed as he bit on his lip, "I didn't tell them. I thought you would have preferred it kept a secret... you know... for obvious reasons," he glanced back at Cartman who started to look annoyed again.

He narrowed his eyes and walked up to Wendy slowly. He held her chin in his hands and observed the faded markings on her face. They were very faint now, but still visible if you actually looked at them. He had looked at her a lot of times over the day, but now he was actually focusing on her skin instead of become lost in her eyes as he usually did.

The large boy closed his own eyes for a moment and took a deep breath before opening them and staring back into her eyes, his bulky hands still holding her petite face, "What the fuck happened?"

She hesitated slightly, flashbacks of a drunken Stan flooding back into her mind threatening her before she just turned away from Cartman and looked at Kyle desperately. The redhead looked anxious as he probably knew what was coming next. He quickly jumped in front of his best friend just in time to stop Cartman grabbing at Stan's jacket collar and grabbing his own instead.

"Dude, calm down!" he felt himself be lifted off of the ground slightly as he looked at his friend's infuriated face.

"Calm down? He fucking attacked you _and_ Wendy and you expect me to just not give a shit? You knew about it and didn't even tell me!"

"Well I knew you'd go crazy so it didn't seem like the best thing to tell you when we needed your help... Just put me down, dude, and we'll just sort it out," he felt himself be lowered onto the floor and then pushed out of the way.

"Yeah, I'll fucking sort him out..." he muttered as he approached Stan with clenched fists at his sides.

The raven haired boy looked scared for his life, which was probably appropriate in that moment in time as he started to quickly take steps back, nearly tripping over a few times, "Ok man, I know you're probably pissed at me, but it wasn't my fault... I wasn't thinking straight..."

"Don't give me that crap, Marsh," he growled as he caught up with the boy and grabbed hold of his jacket.

The boys were pretty evenly matched in a way. They were of about equal height to each other and although Cartman had a lot of extra weight and bone mass, Stan had a lot of muscle from his various sporting activities. The only difference was that the raven haired boy was running off of adrenaline from his fight-or-flight reactions and the brunette was practically out for blood.

"Cartman! Leave him alone!" Kyle and Kenny came running up and tried to drag them off of each other, but the two locked teens just stared at each other venomously.

"I asked a question. What the _fuck _happened?" his voice was quiet as he spat the words out.

Stan stayed quiet for a moment, but as he felt the grip on his clothing tighten he quickly spoke, "I hit her... but then brought her to the hospital. And I'm sure you already know that I hit Kyle too... But that was an accident too..."

Cartman glanced at Kyle who had just visibly winced at the vague explanation of events before tightening his grip even more, "Something tells me there's a bit more to it than that."

"Well I don't see why you give a shit. It has nothing to do with you; you don't even like Kyle that much."

"Shows how much you know, Marsh."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It _means_," he smirked at the boy, "that ever since you left, everybody's actually realized they're much happier without you around and are getting on way better with each other because of it."

Stan narrowed his eyes, "Fuck you fatass! With the amount of shit we've taken from you over the years, Kyle wouldn't be friends with you. Sure he's put up with all your crap, just like always, but that doesn't make you friends."

His grin was getting larger as he saw the dark haired boy start to get more infuriated, "Well that's where you're wrong again. We _are_ friends. And I'm not just assuming that either, he told me himself. So what have you got to say to that?"

The boy looked from Cartman to Kyle and back to Cartman and stayed speechless. His body tensed up more than it was already and his face went an all too familiar shade of green. The larger boy quickly threw him down and stepped back to avoid being splashed by vomit. Surprisingly, he didn't actually throw up in the end; instead he just stayed green and looked shocked as he stared at Kyle who just stood with his head held down trying to avoid eye-contact.

After a few more seconds of silence he felt anger bolting through him and before he realized what he was doing he had jabbed his fist at Cartman's jaw at full force and then shuddered backwards as he saw the looks of horror coming back at him from his friends as the other boy stumbled backwards and clutched at his face, "I-I..." he looked over at Bradley who now had his arms folded and was shaking his head in an 'I told you so,' way.

"Look, I think we've proven it's best if Stanley just stays here. He's obviously still got problems to solve and he's now in denial about those things thanks to your little unscheduled visit."

Kyle looked as if he was only just about stopping himself from crying as he sighed and looked over at Wendy who obviously didn't have as much self-control and had tears streaming down her cheeks. He went over and stood next to her, gripping her hand tightly as she fell against his shoulder. Kenny was just standing next to Cartman looking thoughtful as he observed what was happening.

"Ok..." Kyle spoke quietly, his voice quivering slightly.

"What?" Stan and Bradley both looked at him with a different version of shock on their faces; Stan's one of dismay and Bradley's one of gratitude.

"Ok. We'll leave him here."

"Really? You'll let us help him here?"

"Yeah... he obviously needs better help than we'll probably be able to give him."

"Kyle? What? No! No, you can't leave me here! I don't need them! They can't help me! They're all pieces of shit! They're all assholes, I can't stay here!"

"There's nothing I can do to help the situation, Stan. Just stay here for now... and we'll come and get you when you're... better," he sighed quietly.

"Is this because I just punched Cartman? Kyle, he provoked me, you saw him do it! He was asking for it! Plus it's _Cartman_."

"Yes, it is Cartman, but that isn't the point. It could have been any of us that 'provoked' you. Obviously, you've already proven that before," he glanced at his bruised hand and pulled it away from Wendy subconsciously remembering that it had been because he was hugging her that made Stan beat him up in the first place, "You're my best friend and I'm not going to lie to you. I'm scared of you right now. I'm scared that you could just snap at any moment and beat the living shit out of me. I don't want to be scared of you, Stan, so I can't see any other option but to leave you here..." his voice trailed off as he saw the look of hurt building up in Stan's eyes.

"I-I won't hurt you Kyle. I really won't, I swear, I promise, I-"

"Stan stop it, _please_. It's not going to change my mind," the redhead stood in front of Stan and placed his hand firmly on his friend's shoulder, "It's for the best. It probably won't be for long. I'll tell your parents you're here and they can make sure you have all the stuff you need and-"

"No. _No_. Kyle, tell me this isn't happening," he shook his head furiously and started pacing back and forth, "No, no, no, no, no..."

"_Stan_-"

"I thought you were my friend Kyle! Don't do this-"

"It's not me who's made this happen..."

"But you're leaving me here- for _Cartman._" He glared at the larger boy who was still gripping at his jaw before letting out a loud moan of annoyance, "Wendy? You know I can't be left in here, right? You want me to come home, right?"

He turned to the dark haired girl who was still crying and had now shuffled along to grip on Kenny's arm tightly, "I... Stan you need to calm yourself down..."

The tall blonde boy who would usually be thrilled to have a pretty girl clinging to him, just looked on at the situation, deep in thought, his face unchanging, "Stan, dude, you have a problem. If they think it's better for you to stay here, you should just do it."

"_Kenny_? You're on their side too? Does everyone here hate me now?"

"It's not about sides-"

"Well I guess you've always been on the fatass's side anyway, right? I bet this was his plan all along- to get you to all turn against me! Well fine! Fine then, I'll just give you all what you want, then, shall I? I'll just go fucking crazy and you'll all be ecstatic!" he charged himself at Cartman and tackled him to the ground before repeatedly punching him in the face.

The boy was red in the face as he held his fists above the brunette before he felt himself be hauled off and his head being pressed strongly into the ground. After the initial shock of being shoved to the ground, Cartman regained his awareness and pulled the darker haired boy off of him and rammed his face into the soil, holding him down by his neck as the raven flailed his limbs trying to see if he could hit back at the boy that had such a firm grip on him. He started choking somewhat on the mud that was being forced into his mouth and nose before he was dragged back up by his hair, his hat now thrown to the side.

"You picked the wrong person to mess with today, hippy," Cartman snarled as he pushed his face back down into the ground.

He shouted something back but it was muffled before his head was lifted up again. He gasped for air as he could hear the larger boy chuckling deeply behind him, before panting, "You might think you're so fucking high and mighty, but you're more screwed up than I am, fat boy!"

He stopped laughing as his face reddened with anger and he tossed the dark haired boy over so that he had him trapped underneath him, his thick hand coiled around his think neck. His eyes had darkened as he stared down at the boy who had started to have a small smirk emerge onto his face, "Don't go there, Marsh..."

"What? You're brave enough to try to fucking kill me but too emotionally crippled to see that you're just as fucked in the head as I am? Hey, remember that summer when-" he was interrupted when Cartman's grip on his neck tightened and he had to try to gasp for breath again.

"I said don't go there!" he was breathing loudly and deeply as he watched the boy choke underneath him.

"Cartman! Get off of him!"

"Shut up, Kahl! He's supposed to be learning something whilst he's here right? Well I'll fucking teach him something!" he reached into his pocket and seized at something tightly.

Kyle stood watching in bewilderment as he tried to work out what Cartman had meant by his last comment, before he saw the small glint that came off of the object in his hand, "Dude! No!"

"If any of you take one more step towards me, I will cut his fucking head open!" he was clutching at his small pocket knife and was holding it right next to Stan's neck, "If you so much as _swallow_, this is going straight through you..." he could see the boy trying not to squirm beneath him and pulled the knife back slightly, "What's wrong Marsh? Suddenly got some regrets, have you?"

The boy hesitated but then took a visibly deep breath before responding, "I... regret... _nothing."_

"Oh, is that right?" he traced the knife carefully along Stan's chin and down his neck, stopping just above his chest, "Because I really think you should."

"Fine, do it you asshole! Just hurry up, you fucking sadist!"

"Leave him alone!" Wendy croaked, her arms still tightly wound around Kenny's, "We can sort this out some other way! Please Cartman!"

"He needs to learn not to mess with me!"

"I-I... Cartman I don't know what to say to you... what can we do to get you to stop?" she pleaded as she continued to feel the warm droplets fall from her eyes, "Just please don't hurt him!"

The large boy stopped for a moment, "Do you love her?" he was staring down angrily at Stan, his knife still wielded in his hands.

"Of course I do, she's my girlfriend..." he hesitated as he saw the look in Cartman's eyes go darker.

"If you truly fucking love her, why did you hit her?"

"I was drunk, I was confused..."

"Bullshit. Answer me again, Marsh. Do you love her?" he lowered the knife away from the boy's neck but held his chest down with his fist.

"Yes..."

"Answer me again. Do you really love her?" he glanced at Wendy who seemed slightly less on edge now that Stan no longer had the weapon at his neck but was still looking anxious.

"Why do you care?"

"Why are you avoiding the question?"

"Because I don't want to answer it!"

Cartman narrowed his eyes slightly as he loosened his grip on Stan's chest, "Why?"

"Because I don't!" his voice croaked as he felt the other boy let go of him and a tear fell from his eye.

"Answer the question!"

Another droplet fell from his eye before he took a deep breath and shouted out, "I did! I don't love her! I love _Kyle_!"

**A/N: Hahahahahahahahahaha. What a crappy ending to the chapter.**

**BUT ANYWAY, don't stop reading if you don't like Styl****e, because it probably won't become much anyway, I just thought it would be a funny plot twist, plus I needed something for Stan to 'work out' was wrong with him :P**

**I'm still actually debating whether or not to do it... I could make it one sided I guess... it's just every time I think about it I don't really know how I can write it without it sounding too cliché... hmm...**

**So ok, the location is Camp New Grace from the season 11 episode 'Cartman Sucks' (quite a lot of people got that! yay!) which is one of my many favourite episodes, and I love Bradley so much! He's so cute and sweet and he's my favourite person to pair Butters with. He's not meant to be the bad guy in this, I wasn't even going to have the part where they talked to him in there, but I wanted him to have more stuff to do and say, and plus he needed to explain what Stan was doing here anyway. I make him sound like such a douche though aww sorry Bradley... but I needed him to act like that so that they didn't just come and leave... He'll be cool in the next one! :P**

**Actually, here's another thought, leave a review and tell me if you want them to get together or not, or if I should make them get with someone else? I feel like screwing Stan over and making Kyle get with Bradley just to send him into overdrive :L I'm so mean... X_X**

**BUT:- thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed my VERY long chapter... (next one may take a while to upload btw-sorry)**

**^.^**

**XXX**

**P.S. Cartman is a total badass. 'Nuff said. **


	16. The Blue Eyed Boy

"Y-you...the fuck?" Cartman was still pinning Stan down to the ground between his legs but his eyes widened and he jerked backwards slightly as the words passed the boy's lips.

The raven haired boy had clamped his hand over his mouth as soon as he had spoken and was now sobbing silently with his eyes tightly shut as if somehow he would be able to block everything out and pretend nothing had happened. He hadn't known he was going to say that and was shaken as he realized what he had actually just revealed. It obviously wasn't going to be that easy to ignore though; he still had five other teenagers surrounding him who all looked just as confused as he felt.

Well, actually, that wasn't exactly true. They were all shocked, but they didn't all look confused. In fact, the only person that did look that way was Cartman. He was still lost for words as his mouth opened and closed, gawping like a goldfish. He looked over at his friends slowly before focusing on Kyle.

The redhead was pale as he visibly trembled in his spot. His stare was fixed on a patch of the ground in front of him as he held his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide as they glassed over and were unmoving apart from an occasional blink. His face was pretty apathetic besides that, he just looked blank.

"I... I... I only wanted him to admit that he didn't... I didn't know he'd..." the brunette boy tried to formulate words as he watched his friend in concern, "I just... Kahl, say something..."

The boy stayed silent as he slowly shook his head, his eyes still fixed on the one point in front of him. Cartman glanced over at Kenny who had his hand around his chin, still deep in thought. Wendy wasn't holding on to him anymore; instead she was cradling herself as more tears streamed down her face, but she didn't look surprised or upset or angry, she just looked extremely concerned for the dark haired boy who now banging his head against the ground in anger.

The other person present, Bradley, just watched them all with his arms folded across his chest and a small smug smirk on his face, "I told you that you still had a lot to learn about yourself," he promptly turned around and started walking off before calling back, "I'll be back in my office, I have more work to do. If you choose to leave now, it's been nice finally meeting you all," he shot another self-satisfied smile at them and hurried off into the distance.

As the group stayed in silence they were all surprised when they all heard Kyle start to laugh nervously, "Good one... Yeah... I bet that was your plan all along to get him to go away... Yeah..."

He carried on laughing to himself as the others stayed quiet. They all, including Kyle, knew that it hadn't been planned, but he just didn't know what else to think. His mind was blank again and he just couldn't think of anything reasonable at all, so he just went back to standing in silence. That was until his knees gave way and he just fell to the ground and started crying, much like Cartman had earlier that day. Unlike him however, he quickly realized what he was doing and got back to his feet before just glancing at the worried faces looking at him and then running off before he could allow himself to start crying.

Cartman quickly jumped up and was about to run off after him, but Kenny grabbed at his arm to stop him, "Leave him... he needs time to think..."

Instead of resisting, the larger boy just groaned loudly before slowly walking into the broken cabin and collapsing in a heap on one of the beds, his hands covering his eyes as he sighed in exasperation. Kenny followed him in and perched on the other bed and just stared at his friend quietly. He still didn't seem to be totally affected by the recent happenings; he just seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

"What... the actual... fuck," Cartman exhaled loudly as he began rubbing at his temples, "Is he being... seriously? Like... was he really planning it? Because it fucking worked, that's for sure."

"I don't know, dude. I really don't know."

"All I wanted him to do was to admit he didn't love Wendy... I didn't know he'd say..."

"I know you didn't."

"But... he's just confused over everything... right? I mean... him and Wendy... and all those other chicks in the times they broke up... he can't really be..."

"He could like both. But honestly, I think he's less confused now than he was before."

Cartman lifted his head and looked over at his blonde friend who was now looking down at the floor in contemplation, "What? How?"

"Well, he's obviously pretty confused about what just happened, but generally when he comes to terms with it, he'll be less confused than before," he glanced at the still perplexed look on the larger boy's face, "and by that I mean... I've always thought that there was something up with Stan. Like whenever he had a problem, he's go to Kyle. And sure, they're best friends and all, but he'd just completely forget about Wendy, even when she could easily help him with it. She's always really busy anyway though, so he could use that as an excuse as to why he didn't go to her as often. But he'd always be his happiest when he was with Kyle and when he wasn't around he'd rarely hang out with us. Ok, so that might have been because he doesn't like you very much," he heard Cartman scoff before sighing and carrying on, "but his life just seemed to get very Kyle-and-sports orientated. I guess it's always been kind of like that, so that's why I didn't really question it, but I just think it took all... this... to get him to realize it for himself."

After listening to Kenny's long explanation, Cartman considered what he's said. It was true, Stan had become very Kyle orientated lately, borderline obsessed actually. Whenever Kyle had wanted to hang out with him and Kenny as well, Stan would often get jealous and try to convince him that they didn't need to be there and they could just spend the day together instead, however the redhead just usually assumed that was because of Cartman and went along and invited the other two anyway. He'd usually just stick by Kyle's side for the entire time and get a bit too defensive when redhead and the brunette got in their usual arguments, often turning them into a lot more than they needed to be. He still talked to Kenny occasionally, but the conversation would often eventually loop back to Kyle.

"Damn..." he looked over at the tall blonde who was just nodding his head; "I guess it really is seriously..." they fell back into silence before Kenny just started laughing to himself quietly, "What?"

"I was just thinking... Now that Stan's hot for Kyle... I guess that means you're free to go back after Wendy," he started laughing louder as he saw the look of annoyance creeping onto his friend's face, before he felt a pillow being thrown at his own.

"Shut up, Kinny."

* * *

Back outside, Stan was still sobbing into the dirt whilst cursing to himself. After everybody else had left, Wendy had been left unaware of what she should do. She didn't want to leave the dark haired boy alone out there, but she didn't really know if it was smart for her to stay with him whilst he was in such an unstable mental state.

Eventually she just sighed and sat down crossed legged next to him. She just sat there for a while at first, but as he started to sob louder she shuffled closer to him and just held his hand tightly. He didn't hesitate as he felt his hand in hers and so she straightened her legs out and pulled him closer so that his head lay limp in her lap as he continued to cry. He curled up his body next to her as she just sat and stroked his hair gently whilst whispering words of comfort as if she was consoling a sad puppy. As the tears let up and he just lay sniffling, she sighed contentedly, happy to know that (at least for now) he was alright with her being there with him and wasn't going to do anything stupid.

"Wendy... I-I-"

"Shh, Stan, it's ok..." she whispered as she continued to caress his dark locks with her nimble fingers.

"No... It's not..." he began to cry again before he felt her begin to pull him up so that he was sitting up fully.

"You can't help how you feel Stan."

"But..."

"You've been feeling like this for a while. And I think you've known it all along. But you just didn't want to admit it."

"You... You knew...?"

"Well..." she looked away from him as she started to fiddle with her fingers, "I can't say I haven't realized that we never spend any time together anymore; you're usually with Kyle. I've always accepted that he was a big part of your life, but lately it just seemed clearer that he was a bigger part of your life than I initially thought."

"No... I don't...I'm not...You..."

"This isn't about me Stan. This is about you and Kyle. I don't know how he feels about you on a romantic level, but what I do know is that he would go to the ends of the world for you either way. All day we've gone everywhere looking for you. It was today I that I recognized just how close you too really were. It upset me at first because it was then that I appreciated just how distant we seem to be from each other nowadays, but I'll get over it. He had so many different places he wanted to go that he thought you might have gone to and when he had finally realized we might not find you today, it nearly killed him to admit we had to stop and go home. You've got understand that when he said he wanted you to stay here it wasn't because he wanted to get rid of you, it was because he can't bear to see you in a state that he feels like he can't help you in. He just wants what's best for you and your wellbeing- just like the rest of us."

"But... why aren't you angry? Why did you still come to find me if you felt that way?" he sighed quietly before looking up at her with sad eyes.

She didn't respond for a moment before she just gave him a small smile, "Stan, I love you. I always have and always will. I care about what happens to you, I hate seeing you or thought of you being hurt. I'd like to think that you love me that way too, although I can't dictate what you feel towards me, but that doesn't change the fact that you're _in love_ with Kyle. Nobody can change that. I'm not going to be angry because you've finally realized what it is that makes you truly happy."

"I..." he didn't know how to respond; his head was swimming with the different thoughts going around and he just didn't know what he was supposed to think before he just sighed again and smiled back at her, "I do love you Wendy... you're so awesome for this..."

As she smiled back at him warmly, he put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her tightly as she leaned against him contentedly, "Just promise me one thing, thought Stan," she looked up at him pleadingly, "If Kyle... doesn't love you in the same way you love him... please don't go crazy and start drinking again..."

He visibly tensed as the words passed her lips but then squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "I promise."

She still wasn't sure if she could believe him, but continued anyway, "And there's another thing..." she hesitated slightly as she saw the raven haired boy's eyebrows rise as he waited for her to speak again, "Can you maybe... try to start getting along with Cartman and Kenny more?"

"Cartman?" he took his hand from around her and frowned, "That freak put a knife to my neck!"

"I know... but-"

"He's a freakin' psychopath, dude!"

"Maybe, but if you think about it, he was the one who made you blurt all that stuff out..."

He stayed quiet for a moment before narrowing his eyes slightly and raising an eyebrow, "I still don't see why he cared so much," he watched her as she dipped her head and flushed slightly, "Is there something going on between you two again?"

"I... We're just friends again, that's all..."

"Well every time you two become 'just friends' he seems to try to kill me somehow, like how he nearly pushed me in front of a bus last time and he claimed it was 'an accident'? Yeah, that guy's pretty fucked up..." he continued to look at her as a guilty look crept upon her face before he smiled and chuckled softly, "But can you two just get together already? It would make my life a lot easier."

She glanced up at his grinning face and felt relieved, "Well I'm glad we have your blessing then," she giggled quietly, "Because I kind of have something to tell you anyway..."

"What? Have you two already gone to town on each other?" he chuckled lightly.

"Well... no... But we did kind of make out a little when Kyle was looking for you at the Broncos..." she went red again as Stan just shook his head at her playfully.

"Wow, you work fast don't you? You assume I'm gay and you just hurry on to the next guy? I guess I dodged a bullet with you then," he replied teasingly as she just sighed again in relief, "I also guess I'll just have to be your gay best friend from now on then, right?"

She knew she was going to have to tell him and thought that he would have gone crazy, which, if she had told him an hour earlier he probably would have, but now he just seemed more chilled and relaxed than she had seen him be in a very long time. She watched as he just laughed contentedly back at her and couldn't help but start giggling herself.

"Yeah... but anyway... you didn't promise me you'd be nicer to them... Will you be? Please?"

"Fine," he stopped laughing and tried to look at her as seriously as possible, although he still felt like he wanted to, "I promise I will be nicer to Kenny."

She frowned slightly, "What about Cartman?"

"Cartman? Hmm..." he raised his hand to his chin in mock consideration, "I suppose it's possible that I could attempt to be nicer to your new boyfriend, but I can't make any promises there. Especially if he starts it. Then I take it back completely."

"Fine... I guess that's good enough for me," she smiled kindly at him as she leaned on his shoulder again, "I'm so happy you're alright."

"So... You went to the Broncos?" Stan started into a conversation with her about all the different places they'd been in that day, feeling slightly guilty that they'd gone so out of their way to find him, but he was finding it a pretty entertaining story nevertheless. Especially the parts about how Kyle trying so hard to get him back. So, all of it really.

* * *

"Change him back you smug bastard!"

"Well, hello Kyle, I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon. Take a seat."

"You've fucking brainwashed him! Turn him back!" he ignored the blonde as he paced back and forth in front of his desk.

"I can't 'turn him back' from what he's felt all along, Kyle."

"Yes you can! You probably planned that to get rid of us... Or made him think that for some other reason... he isn't... he has a girlfriend, dude! Why would I believe that?"

"Had. He _had_ a girlfriend. From her reaction, she seems to be pretty understanding about the whole thing."

"What's there to understand? It's all bullshit! He doesn't... He isn't..."

"Kyle, please sit down. I can't help you if you don't let me talk to you."

"Haven't you 'helped' enough?" he shouted back, but he sat down anyway.

Bradley sat in his chair silently for a moment and just observed the redhead who was sitting in front of him. His face was bright crimson and his body was tense as he looked both infuriated and confused, "Kyle, why are you so angry?"

"Why do you insist on using my name almost every time you speak to me?" his voice was quiet and harsh as he started down at the floor.

"It's a force of habit. I usually address people in groups so I have to say each person's name when I talk to them."

"Well, it's irritating."

"Well, so is your lack of cooperation."

Kyle lifted his head up and glared at the blonde who just looked back at him appearing to be deep in thought, "How am I being uncooperative?"

"You're in denial. You need to just accept what Stanley has said as to be true and continue from there."

He ducked his head back down, "Can you just call him Stan, that's irritating too."

Bradley just sighed as he lay backwards into his chair, "I can't 'change him back', Kyle. So if there's nothing else you want from me-"

"Help me..." his voice was quiet as his face still burned scarlet, "I don't know what to do."

"As I've already said, the first thing you need to do is to accept it. If you don't, I can't help you any further."

"But-"

"There are no buts here, Kyle. It's been a long time coming. He's had these feelings built up inside of him for a very long time, and now that he's let them out, it's only fair for you to acknowledge them."

"You've only known him for a short amount of time, you don't know how he's felt if he didn't even know it himself..."

"Although that's a valid point, from everything I've been told about you both I feel like I've known you for years."

"From Butters? What has he said about me?"

"Not just from Butters, from everything Stanley's told me about you in our 'self-discovery' sessions together. It seems a lot of his 'self' revolves around you instead," he smiled weakly as he saw Kyle lift his head to look him in the eyes, "And as for your second question, Butters described you as a very smart, kind and considering person who can sometimes get angry very easily," he saw the redhead's eyebrow quirk but quickly continued, "But who is one of the nicest people he knows."

"Really?" a small smile appeared on his face.

"Yes, he said that whenever somebody had a problem, you are usually one of the first to try to help them, whether they are your close friend or not. He's told me that you two haven't been that close in the past as he'd usually end up on Eric's side of one of his crazy ideas and you were usually on the other side, but you've often tried to stick up for him anyway and so I've always had the impression that you were a wonderful person."

"Wow..." he still looked happy until a look of confusion crossed his face, "So if that was your impression before, what do you think of me now?"

"Now?" he leant forward in his chair and clamped his hands together under his chin as he stared into the redhead's wide eyes, "I think you are a very stubborn person who needs to learn how to control his anger and confusion more efficiently than to just run off and blame the first person you can think of that could be responsible for a so-called problem that is non-existent. I also think you often jump to conclusions you can't really justify. Also, you think you can solve everybody else's problems, and although I don't doubt that you can help them, I pretty much know for sure that you ignore your own. And-"

"So... I'm guessing this all means you have a very bad impression of me..."

"Actually, no. The opposite really. I believe that everything Butters said about you is true and you really do seem like a wonderful person. Just a wonderful person with a lot of his own issues to sort out. And who really needs to show his hair more," he flashed a small smirk as he saw the redhead roll his eyes at the last comment.

"Ok, whatever, blondie. So... are you and Butters like... in some long-distance thing?" he asked awkwardly before seeing the other start to laugh.

"No, of course not; that was just a small crush years ago. Plus, he isn't even gay."

"Really?" his shocked tones of voice just made Bradley laugh more.

"Why's that such a surprise?"

"I dunno..." he blushed again slightly, "I mean, we've just always assumed that he was."

"Well unfortunately for me all those years ago, he isn't. But being gay isn't just something you can assume, Kyle. Just because he isn't as 'masculine' as most guys, doesn't mean that he's automatically gay."

"I guess you're right..." he thought about his best friend and his latest revelation; Stan was one of the most 'masculine' guys he knew.

Bradley leant back backwards into his chair with a large grin on his face, "I'm always right, Kyle, that's why it's so easy for me to help people. See, you've barely talked to me and already you're getting less stubborn."

He raised his eyebrow, before growling back "I'm not stubborn you smug-"

"I think we still need to work on your denial and anger problems though."

"I don't-" he sighed loudly, "Fine whatever, I can be a bit stubborn sometimes. There, no denial, stubbornness or anger. Happy? Can we change the topic from me now?"

Still smiling he replied, "Sure, I've talked about you plenty over the last couple days, I could do with a break."

"Wait, so what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing in particular. Just that you've come up in a lot of my conversations with Stanley lately. Well, all of them actually."

"About what...?"

"I thought we were changing the topic from being focused on you?"

"This is technically about you and Stan, though."

"But you as well. I think it would be good to change topic, it might make you conceited if we talk about you all evening."

"No it won't! I want to know what you talked about!"

"There isn't much to say really; we were talking about things that happened in his life and so you were obviously a big part of it."

"Oh... Ok..." his face blushed, "So anyway... do you not go to school or anything? Like do you stay here all day?"

"No, of course not. I go to school back in Denver and then come here afterwards. I live on site because my parents are the ones who took over this place. Plus I get special treatment at school because they know I spend most of my time helping people here so I get a lot of extra time to finish assignments. It's pretty cool actually, although it pisses a lot of other people off."

"Really? That's so cool, but that sucks about people getting annoyed at you..."

"It's fine really, they don't act on it."

"I guess that's alright then. But do you get like, bullied for being..." his voice trailed off.

"Gay?" Bradley just laughed as Kyle nodded slowly, his face flushing slightly, "Why are you so afraid of saying that word? That's all it is: a word. But no, my school's pretty tolerant of things like that."

"Oh... I don't think they'd be that understanding if you came to my school."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I dunno, they're just the kind of people that rip on you for any little thing you do that isn't what's 'right'."

"What, like how Eric constantly insults you for being ginger and a Jew?"

"Yeah... Did Butters tell you that?"

"Probably, but I just assumed the ginger thing and I've heard him call you Jew plenty of times today."

"Has he? I don't even realize that much anymore to be honest, even though all his anti-Semitic crap still pisses me off."

"But anyway, as seen as the conversation seems to have looped back to you," he got out of his chair and walked around to face Kyle whilst leaning back against his desk, "I guess it's time to see what's going on in your head."

The redhead looked quite apprehensive as to what he was talking about, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, how do you feel right now?"

"Confused."

"And why is that?"

"Because I have a random kid staring at me asking me how I'm feeling?"

"Is that the only reason?"

"Well, no... Obviously... but I don't want to talk about that. I don't want to talk about how I'm feeling."

"You should, it's good to let your feelings out."

"I know... But mine are fine trapped inside of me, thank you very much," he crossed his arms and stared back at the blonde boy in front of him.

"Stubborn, stubborn, Kyle..." he shook his head playfully, "You said you wanted my help, right? So how do I do that if you don't tell me what you're feeling?"

"I don't know... Just... tell me what to do to make everything go back to normal..."

"Normal? What do you mean by normal?"

"Back when everyone was happy and friends and life was predictable-"

"Predictable? From what I hear, South Park is anything _but_ predictable."

"Well, whatever. It's predictable that it's unpredictable-"

"So, why is it so hard for you to accept what has happened? If you thought it was unpredictable-" Bradley sat on the edge of his desk and let his legs dangle slightly as he saw Kyle begin to get more annoyed with himself.

"But it isn't unpredictable! It's _too_ predictable!" the redhead started going red in anger again, "It is so freakin' cliché! A person falling for their best friend? That's so fucking original isn't it?"

"Kyle-"

"And so what am I meant to do? I'm supposed to just fall into his arms and live happily ever after, right?" he jumped up out of his seat and started pacing back and forth again.

"_Kyle_-"

"But I can't do that! I can't just pretend I suddenly love him like that! I mean I love him, sure. He's my best friend, of course I love him. But I've never even looked at Stan like that and now whenever I see him it's going to be really awkward and...and... I can't just-"

"KYLE!" the redhead stopped as he felt a slender hand grab onto his arm and pull him back to his seat, "Dude, calm down."

"Calm down? All this shit's going on and I'm meant to just stay calm?"

"Yes. Look, it's not something to be scared of. You just need to stop bottling up your emotions. That's why you get so angry when you finally let something slip."

Kyle sighed, "I know... but... not yet. I don't want to talk about it right now..."

The two boys just stared at each other for a moment before Bradley broke the silence "Ok, so we'll save that conversation for later. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" he walked back around his desk and flopped back into his big leather chair.

"Well..." he looked around the room he was in, "It's pretty dull in here. Don't you think you should put up some pictures or photos or something?"

"I would, but I don't actually come in here that often, so it doesn't seem worth it."

"What, you don't usually get creepy little girls to practically kidnap people and then threaten them to leave?" Kyle asked teasingly, his anger obviously subduing.

"No, I save that for my special guests only," he smirked back at the grinning redhead.

"Then in that case, I think you should just totally pimp out this room and make it your chill out room with like a TV and video games and loads of really cool stuff, that'd be so awesome."

"If I put all that stuff in here, people would probably just try and steal it all. Some of the kids in this place have some serious issues, dude. Like there was a little boy who was a pyromaniac and so he wasn't allowed to wear anything with pockets in case he was stashing any lighters or matches and he had to be under constant supervision whenever he went to lunch because of the ovens and stuff or when he was outside because of all the trees and stuff he could burn down."

"Really? Is he still here?"

"No, we found out that his parents used to fight a lot and were about to get a divorce but then there was a fire at his home when he was about seven and then his parents got back together for a while. After a while they broke up again and so he started randomly setting fire to things in a hope it would get his parents to get back together. It was pretty sad actually."

"Dude..."

"But after we found all that stuff out we just worked on getting him new ways of relieving his stress and convincing him that things were going to be okay. It was only about two months ago that he left, but I think that he's alright now. Well, a lot better than before. He still goes to therapy, but he's stopped setting stuff on fire at least."

"There's this kid who me and my brother look after sometimes who I think should come here then, he's totally crazy, dude. He like, trashed my whole house."

"Why, what did you do?"

"Nothing, his mother's just a total whack-job and she just left him at our house on his own and he's just crazy anyway. We can barely control him when we are there, let alone when we're not."

"Well then if he has some issues he needs help with he can come here, I'd be happy to see you again," he smirked, "For a fee, obviously."

"Whatever, if he wants to come here he can pay for himself; he's not my problem anymore- my mom went totally crazy on them and so I don't think we'll be seeing them again for a while," he chuckled to himself, "But is that what you do here? Like psychoanalyse kids and stuff?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. It's mainly just about helping them get through their problems instead of feeling like the whole world is coming to an end," he raised an eyebrow as he saw Kyle lower his head, "But we don't really psychoanalyse them that much actually, we have people who do that and then send them to us to help them recover, like all that self reflection and discovery stuff I was talking about before."

"So is that what you want to be in the future? Like a therapist person?"

"No, I'd hate to do this for my entire life. It's pretty rewarding I guess, but when I see my future I see myself..." he leaned back in his chair in contemplation, "I see myself in a really high-class and posh apartment building overlooking the city and with a job as a celebrity journalist and making an insane amount of money."

"I can see why you'd want to be a journalist; you like to know all about other people's business," Kyle laughed.

"Exactly. It would be the easiest job in the world for me; I can find information out really easily. Plus it would be pretty great to meet loads of famous people. But then I'd find a really cute and sweet guy and we'd get married and then adopt two really cute kids and move into a really nice house back in a small town and then everything will just be... perfect," he sighed contently.

"Wow, you have that planned out pretty nicely don't you?"

"Yup," he got back out of his chair and went and sat down in one of the ones next to Kyle so that they were side by side, "Okay, so let's try something."

"Try something?" Kyle leaned away from him nervously as the blonde just laughed, "What are we trying?"

"We're going to play a game. All you have to do is say the first thing that comes into your head-"

"Blue."

Bradley laughed again, "What?"

"You said to say the first thing that comes into your head."

"We haven't started yet! What I was going to say was that I'm going to say some stuff, like a word or a sentence and then I want you to tell me the first thing that comes into your head."

"Oh... right, I get what you mean."

"Just out of curiosity though, why did you say blue?"

"Because you were looking at me and so I was looking at your eyes..." his voice trailed off and he started to blush as he saw the blonde start to laugh at him again, "Shut up!"

"Fine. Okay, on with this," he stood up and picked up a small notebook and then sat back down again, "So just so you're clear, you say the first thing you think of after I've finished- I'll nod at you- and if you hesitate I'm moving on to the next thing. Got it?"

"Urm... yeah, I guess."

"Good. Okay then. Table," he nodded his head.

"Chair."

"School."

"Work.

"Sports."

"Basketball."

"Blue."

"Eyes... Dude!" he sighed before rolling his own.

"Okay, okay, sorry, it was on the list," he said with a smug grin, "Green."

"Hat."

"Orange."

"Parka."

"Red."

"Hair."

"Yellow."

"Bananas...urgh..."

"Your life."

"Crazy."

"Your past."

"Fun."

"Your future."

"Urm..."

"What job will you have?" he nodded his head at the end as Kyle raised his eyebrow at the longer sentence .

"I don't know..."

"Where will you live?"

"Urm..."

"Who else is in your future?"

"Family, friends..."

"Pets?"

"Kitten."

"Partner?"

"Urm..."

"Kids?"

"I guess..."

"Stan."

"Gay."

Kyle's eyes widened as the word passed his lips as he dropped his head into his hands. Bradley just observed him carefully as he started jotting something down inside his notebook. As the redhead lifted his head again he watched the blonde curiously.

"What are you writing?"

"Your answers."

"What? Why?"

"Because it'll be interesting to compare."

"Compare what?"

"Your answers with Stanley's. His were pretty interesting."

"You did that with Stan?"

"Yeah, we did it this morning actually. Look at his answers," he passed the notepad to Kyle and watched as the boy scanned his best friend's responses.

"Table, 'what?', school, 'shit', sports, 'the Broncos', blue, 'sky', green, 'Kyle', orange, 'orange', red, 'Kyle', yellow, he hesitated, life, 'shit', past, 'Kyle', future, 'Kyle'... Dude... why did he keep saying my name?"

"Because you were on his mind? Carry on reading."

"Urm... Job, 'Bronco', where he'd live, he hesitated, who'd be there, 'Kyle'..." he paused to clear his throat before continuing, "Pets, 'Sparky', partner, hesitation and then 'Wendy'...kids, 'urgh', Stan, 'Kyle'..."

"Weird, right? He's like, totally obsessed with you. And that was before he realized he l-"

"He was probably just having regrets about going crazy and was thinking about it at the time, that's all..."

"So much denial..." Bradley just smiled warmly at the redhead who just turned crimson and was turning away from him, "I was going to question him about it but he got up and left; he probably realized it too, so I just left him alone for a bit."

Kyle stayed silent as he re-read all of his friend's answers. His eyes darted back and forth as he looked through them all. Was it true? Was Stan really in love with him?

"So... if theoretically... this is all true..." his voice was quiet as he avoided eye-contact, "What do I do about it?"

"If I answer are you going to go crazy on me again?" Bradley raised his eyebrow as he turned his chair so that he was fully facing the redhead.

"No..." his still crimson face turned to the side to see the blonde's crystal blue eyes staring straight back at him, "How do I make things right?"

"Well... To make things 'right' would imply that they were wrong to begin with... So why do you think that things are 'wrong'?"

"I-I... Because Stan's my best friend dude... and that's just weird... he's not... you're not meant to think things like that about your best friend... it's not... right..."

"Isn't it?"

"No..." he frowned as he saw Bradley just staring at him, no emotion on his face whatsoever.

"Is it wrong that he's your best friend, or is it wrong because you're both guys?" he observed Kyle's face flush again as the boy sat in silence, "Would it be different if one of you was a girl?"

"Well..."

"Yes?"

"Yeah..." his voice was still quiet as he sighed and turned his own chair so that they were face-on with each other.

"Ok, so," he fixed his eyes onto the redhead's emerald ones, "Are you gay?"

Kyle was so taken aback by the bluntness of the question he nearly fell off his chair as he jerked backwards. As he regained his composure his face turned a deeper red as he saw Bradley just staring back at him patiently. He hadn't seemed fazed at all by the boy's reaction and instead just watched silently as the other tried to regain his self-control.

"No. No, I'm not... Why would you even ask that?"

"What do you mean, why would I ask that?" he raised his eyebrow as he crossed his arms and leaned backwards, "It's a pretty appropriate question for the situation. The whole way we proceed with this is based on your answer to that question, actually, so it's the most logical question I could have asked you."

"Oh... I just thought... Okay, whatever... now what?"

"Do you share any of Stanley's feelings towards you?"

"I-I... No... I've never really thought about it..."

"Think about it now."

"It's not something you can just 'think about'."

"Yes it is."

"What's the next question?"

"Do you think you'll be able to carry on being best friends with Stanley after today?"

"I... He probably won't want to talk to me..."

"His life practically revolves around you; it won't be possible for him to ignore you for too long if he tries to."

"Well..."

"Have you had or do you have a girlfriend?"

"I don't have one right now, but I have before... Why is that relevant?"

"When was that? And for how long?"

"Has this got a purpose or are you just being nosey?"

"Eh, bit of both. Just answer the question."

"Urm... I don't know... it was ages ago I guess... I've just been concentrating on my school work lately, there's nothing wrong with that; that doesn't mean anything!" he replied a bit too defensively.

Bradley's eyebrow quirked, "I didn't say it did, Kyle."

"Whatever... Carry on..."

The curly blonde just touched the redhead's hand gently and then sighed and got up as he saw him blush and look away. He slowly walked towards the door of the building and looked out of it. In the distance he could see the Wendy and Stan sitting on the ground together. He smiled warmly before glancing back at an obviously still shaken and confused Kyle.

"Come on, we're going to sort all of this out," before the dazed Jew had a chance to reply he felt himself being pulled up off of the chair and dragged outside by another pair of small hands, "You're going to tell him how you feel."

"What? No... No I..."

"Kyle," he sighed quietly and stared into the boy's shimmering eyes, "You're going to have to face him eventually, so you might as well do it now and tell him what you truly feel; don't try to plan it out, speak from the heart. He's your best friend if nothing else, he deserves the truth."

Kyle gazed back for a moment, his mind just whirring madly before the words actually sunk in. He didn't know what to say at first and so instead he just blinked and nodded slowly, before swallowing and choking out, "Thanks. You might be a smug bastard, but I think you've really helped us out," with his smile returning to his face.

"You're welcome," he returned the smile kindly and ushered him away before quickly adding, "Oh, and Kyle? There's nothing wrong with clichés."

As the redhead felt his face start to warm up again he just nodded gratefully and began to run back towards his friends. He tried desperately to not let his over-analytic brain get the better of him and make him freak out again. No, he was going to do what Bradley told him to. He was going to tell Stan how he felt about everything. But what exactly did he think? He didn't know; he had never thought of Stan that way before; never anything more than his super-best friend. But he wouldn't allow himself to thinking about it now. He was just going to have to wait and see what babbled out of his mouth when he got there...

**A/N: Oh gosh, there goes me with the cliff-hangers again, but I guess this one is pretty obvious to what's going to happen... Hmm...**

**Oh and I know somebody wondered why Bradley just stood back and watched well... I actually don't know why, I guess it's because I see him as being pretty small and wouldn't help much anyway, but to be honest I think I just forgot he was there at the time :P **

**But hopefully this was a good chapter for you guys, I mean I was finding it pretty hard to write; I don't think it's as good as it could have been, but when I started most of the stuff I didn't really know hos I wanted Kyle was going to react but then I started over analysing and trying not to make it cliché but like seriously, it's totally not possible when it comes to Style so whatthehell lets just do it anyway!**

**Aww I love Bradley so much, but I guess I still make him out to be an asshole. Dunno why. I guess I'm just one myself. Oh well. He's not that bad I don't think, just a tad a tad.**

**Thanks for reading guys, and seriously every time you review it totally makes my day. I just feel all warm and fuzzy inside knowing people actually like and care about it and take so much time reading it. I'm so soppy right? But it's the truth :3**

**So yeah... MUCH LOVE.**

**^.^ XXX **


	17. Good Ol' South Park

"Kyle? Kyle, are you alright?-"

"Kahl! Dude, where were you?-"

"Ky, you really freaked us out back then-"

"Listen, Kyle I-"

"SHUT UP!"

As the small redhead had made his swift return to the group he was instantly greeted by the frenzy of concern that was being showered over him as he arrived. Kenny and Cartman had made their way outside of the broken cabin at around the same time Kyle had made his way out and so they were all present as they gathered around him. The redheaded boy had had his hands pushed into his pockets but now he ripped them out to clasp them over his ears as he tried to calm himself down. His mind was already going haywire and all of their combined chatter wasn't helping him at all.

He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, attempting to block everyone and everything out, even if it was only for one second, as his friends fell into silence and glanced at each other nervously. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes and lowered his arms to be met by four pairs of gawking eyes. He scanned them all before quickly fixing his gaze onto Stan's.

As the dark haired boy tried to speak up again, he felt a small, thin hand clap over his mouth to render him mute. He frowned slightly before realizing that it had in fact been Kyle who had done so and so he just stared back at him curiously. He watched as the redhead attempted to say something, but every time he opened his mouth he just looked confused and closed it again.

As he tried to speak, he realized he just couldn't. He was searching for the perfect thing to say to just fix the whole problem, but he couldn't find it. He tried to delve into the depths of his mind and find out what he really felt, but it was unreachable. Why couldn't he find it? Because your true feelings aren't in your mind; they're in our hearts. The stunned redhead couldn't seem to work that out either, though. He was stuck not knowing what it was that he felt, much to his dismay.

As he started to get annoyed at himself, he lowered his hand from Stan's mouth and just quietly mumbled 'sorry' before turning around and stuffing his hands back in his pockets. He didn't want to end up losing his temper again and so he was going to just leave again, admitting his own defeat, but he felt a large hand grip firmly around his wrist.

"You're not going off on your own again, Jew," Cartman was peering down at him, his expression concerned but his voice forcibly casual, "Where did you go anyway?"

Kyle glared at him and pulled his hand back but then sighed, "I was with Bradley," he shrugged his shoulders casually as Cartman raised his eyebrow.

"Why were you with that asshole?"

"I…" he glanced at Stan who was looking equally as curious, "I guess I just needed to… vent. I don't know why I went there specifically; I just needed to get away for a bit…"

"Kyle?" the dark haired boy stepped forward in front of his redheaded friend as he saw him flinch at his approach and positioned himself so that he couldn't move away from him, but when the stubborn boy still tried to move anyway, he ended up being held tightly in place by his best friend, "I know what I said must have really freaked you out. It freaked me out too, but dude you have to listen to me."

He smiled weakly as Kyle stopped squirming in his hands and stayed still, although his body was still a bit tense from the touch. He was still avoiding eye-contact and was staring down at the floor, his hands still firmly pushed into his pockets.

"I'm sorry," his smile widened as he felt his friend relax in his hands, but he went back to looking serous as he carried on, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry for what I've put you through. Not just today, but all the crap I put you through last week and just generally throughout our lives. I'm just sorry… for everything. I didn't know any of that would happen and I didn't know… that I'd feel this way…" he was surprised when he didn't feel Kyle start to squirm again, "I just guess… my head was in one place, but my heart was in another."

He stared down at the redhead anxiously. He wasn't moving. His face stayed in the same expression. He just wasn't responding whatsoever. He was just staring blankly at the ground in front of him. Stan tried to rock him gently to see if that would get him to react in some way, but it didn't; his body just stayed stiff but relaxed in his grip. He glanced uneasily at the rest of the group who all looked just as confused as he felt at that moment. Stan quickly turned back around again and saw that his super-best friend now had his eyes staring up at the night sky as if he was deep in thought, although he didn't seem like he was actually thinking about anything at all, just staring, attempting to think but failing.

"Kyle-" he was interrupted by the euphoric sensation that was Kyle's thin lips forcing themselves upon his.

It didn't take Stan long to realize what was actually happening and when he did he let go of his grasp on the redhead's arms and swiftly slid them around his slender waist and pulled him closer. He 'discreetly' flipped Cartman off as he heard the overweight boy groan in annoyance in the background but quickly focused all of his attention back to the tip-toeing ginger that now had his arms wound snugly around the jock's neck. He could feel the heat radiating from both his own and Kyle's body and his heartbeat starting to increase rapidly in pace. Although he'd only just worked it out, it was all he'd ever wanted and more.

"Dude…" the redhead's hot breath tickled Stan's cheek as he pulled away slightly and spoke, his voice hoarse and his arms still tightly around his shoulders, "I-I…"

He was once again lost for words. He didn't know what had possessed him to do that, it was just spontaneous and he hadn't even realized he was doing it at first; when he had been standing still before his surprising action, his mind had just been blank, as if he had never had a thought about anything at all in his entire life. Blank. But now? Now he faced the issue of having to explain it; to Stan, his friends and even himself. As he tried to mentally comprehend the situation, he felt Stan's grip around his waist tighten as the dark haired boy tenderly kissed him on his cheek. All logical thinking in his mind had completely vanished by this point; he was feeling pretty light-headed and he felt his stomach go queasy. He wasn't sure if the rapidly fluttering butterflies were a sign of him returning the boys affection or whether it was a different emotion towards the whole idea and circumstance he had found himself involved in. Instead of trying to work it out, he just stared wide-eyed at the boy who was gazing lovingly back at him. He felt his knees begin to weaken as he became even dizzier and just let himself fall clumsily further into Stan's arms as his eyes flickered shut.

"I-Is… Is he alright? Kyle?"

* * *

The car journey home was pretty quiet. Cartman was obviously in the driver's seat and he now had Wendy to his side instead of Kenny. She was gazing out of the window at the rapidly moving scenery, her head nodding every so often as she tried to fight back sleep. It wasn't until she yawned loudly that the larger boy glanced over and saw her exhausted eyes.

"Wendy, just go to sleep," he whispered gently, "We've still got a while to go yet."

"I… I'm not tired," she covered her mouth quickly as another yawn escaped her mouth.

He just shook his head as he kept his eyes on the road, "Seriously, just go to sleep, it's been a long day."

Instead of replying the dark-haired girl just glanced at her friends in the back of the car and adjusted her positioning in her seat to make herself more comfortable as she decided it would probably be for the best if she just listened to him and had a quick nap. She took a swift glance at her watch and sighed heavily, only just realizing just how late it had actually become before resting her head against the window and closing her eyes and falling asleep almost instantly.

As she did, a small sigh could be heard from Cartman as he smiled over at her and then concentrated on the road; he was tired too, but they had to get home. As he did so he heard Stan clear his throat awkwardly from the back seat and glared at him through the rear view mirror.

They were now the only two people awake in the car and as the recognized that, suddenly the atmosphere became a lot more tense than it had been before. Kenny was cooped up behind Cartman in the corner of the car, his long limbs pulled inwards as he dozed, with his head phones to his old and battered iPod plugged firmly into his ears. He had gotten the item from Kyle after the redhead had been given a new one for one of his birthdays. At first he hadn't wanted to accept it due to his pride getting in the way, but he quickly realized that it was just his friend wanting to give him something that he knew he'd appreciate, especially as he had no use for it anymore, and so the blonde had then accepted it graciously and it was now one of his most prized possessions. His head was subconsciously nodding to the beat of the music, but he was still fast asleep in his awkward position next to his two other friends.

Stan was sitting on the opposite end of the car, the unconscious redhead snoozing peacefully between them with his head on his lap. After the latter boy had collapsed into the dark haired boy's arms, the group had initially been terrified before regaining their composure and trying to wake him. They hadn't been successful, but they decided that after all that had happened to him that day, he had a perfectly good reason for passing out and assumed it wasn't anything too serious and would just get him home straight away. Because Kyle was so small, Cartman's concern but also his impatience had caused him to just choose to lift the Jew up and carry him back to the car over his shoulder instead of waiting for the others to decide the best way to get him back, much to Stan's initial dismay, however he eventually mellowed out when he realized it was a pretty effective method. He would have much preferred if he had done it himself, but at that time he was more concerned about Kyle's well-being than his trivial problems with the fat ass.

It had become obvious quite soon into the journey that the redhead was now much more relaxed as his breathing could be heard as he lay on Stan's lap. It was slow and quite raspy, but every so often he would cough slightly and curl up tighter next to his friend as he continued to doze. The raven haired boy had placed Kyle to lean on his shoulder at first, but each time the car jolted or came to a halt the boy would fall and so he had ended up just resting on his friend's legs instead.

Not that Stan was complaining.

He soothingly stroked the redhead's soft but tousled red hair with one hand as the boy's hat fell off onto the seat and held him comfortingly with the other. From time to time he would gaze down at Kyle's pale face and sigh in content and go back to remembering the truly magical moment he had experienced when they were back at the camp site. As the memory had danced around happily over and over in his head, he relaxed into his seat in an attempt to fall asleep too, but his mind was just too active to allow him to sleep.

After he had coughed he noticed the fleeting glimpse Cartman had given him and frowned slightly, "What was that look for?"

"What look?" the boy asked simply.

"Don't bullshit me Cartman, you know what fucking look-"

"Ay, I'm not in the mood for one of your mood swings right now you goddamn hippy!" he hissed quietly as to not wake up the other sleeping passengers.

"Answer my question then!"

"Am I not allowed to glance behind me in my own car now?"

"Not if you're going to look at me like that! What do you want?" he growled as he stared back at the boy through the mirror.

"Screw you, Marsh," he sighed in exhaustion, truly not bothered to start anything with the raven haired boy. They sat in silence for a few more minutes before he spoke again, his voice dark and completely sincere but his stare fixed ahead of him, "If you do as much as make a scratch on him again, I swear to God I will fucking kill you."

Stan looked slightly panicked again for a moment, but he quickly forced his face into one of apathy, "Whatever."

The fat boy's eyebrow arched, his tone still sinister, "I'm being fucking serious. You lay a hand on him and that'll be the last time you see the light of day."

"Well we won't need to resort to that because I won't," he was a bit unnerved by the threats for pretty obvious reasons; there was absolutely no doubt in his mind whatsoever that the fat boy would actually go through with it, "But then you have to promise me something too," he sighed as Cartman just scoffed and carried on, "Be good to her."

The larger boy twisted his head back in surprise at his statement but hurriedly looked back at the road he was currently speeding down, "What?"

"Wendy. I've done enough damage to her over the years as it is… and I know you like her, and she likes you too… so… just… be good to her…" he dipped his head down to avoid any awkward eye-contact from his adversary and quietly sighed again.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," they sat quietly again for a minute before he spoke again, " So what do you say, truce?"

Cartman looked over at the peaceful looking girl and back at the boy in the back of his car. He was being serious. He thought it was quite odd, especially as the other boy had punched him repeatedly for just saying that he was friends with Kyle earlier, but he just assumed that now Stan had finally realized that it was the redhead who was his object of true affection he was probably just harboring all of his denial and jealousy when he had hit out at him. Now that he was willing to wipe the slate clean, he wiggled his jaw around slightly. It was still hurting like a bitch, but after glancing again at Kyle and Wendy, he just sighed loudly.

"Fine," he stopped for a moment, "But I still stand by what I said before."

"Yeah, I know," Stan just nodded quickly before slouching down and continuing to stroke at Kyle's wild curls.

They were so soft and thick and he would wrap them carefully around his fingers and then release them again and watch them spring back into their original position on his head. As they caressed his fingers gently he could swear he could hear some soft purrs coming from the sleeping redhead. How cute. It was like he had a snoozing kitten in his lap.

* * *

As they pulled up slowly in front of the Broflovski household, Stan groaned in annoyance as he tried to wake up Kyle. The redhead _still_ wasn't waking up, which then caused him to panic a little, but he decided he didn't have time to worry about that and pulled his phone out quickly.

He scanned through his address book to look for 'I' and quickly tapped on the number for his best friend's little brother. He tapped his foot impatiently as the phone continued to ring out, but as soon as he was about to just hang up the phone, he heard a childlike voice on the other side of it, questioning him.

"What do _you_ want?" he asked bitterly.

"What's with the attitude?"

"What's with the attitude? Hmm_, I_ don't know, maybe it's got something to do with the fact that you beat the freakin' crap out of my brother and then somehow convinced him to not hold it against you? Well guess what, I do hold it against you. Oh, and you missed two hockey practices, '_Coach_'. So fuck off."

Before he had the chance to reply to the harsh comments, he heard the dial tone coming through as the Canadian hung up the phone on him. He pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned loudly again.

In the car now were Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Wendy. Kenny had left first after Cartman dragged the then semi-conscious boy out, walked him to his front door and as soon as Karen answered it, he nodded quickly at her and then pushed the lanky blonde over and onto their couch and strolled back to vehicle to continue in their journey, quickly whipping the door closed as he left before the young girl could start asking questions. They had gone to Kyle's next but now as they sat in front of the house the two front seat passengers were looking worriedly back at the snoozing redhead.

The ride back from the camp had been pretty fast, actually, due to the fact that the roads were beginning to clear as the night went on. As well as that, Cartman had been driving like a maniac in order to get home as speedily as possible, his fatigue increasing and his patience doing the opposite. It didn't stop him being concerned for his friend's well-being though, even if he didn't come off as being all that compassionate. He turned around in his seat and lightly prodded the boy's face, but when the other didn't even stir he started poking harder.

"Wake up you stupid Jew!" he grabbed the boys face in his hands and started shaking it from side to side, starting to get irritated.

"Cartman, don't, you'll hurt him!" Stan pushed the boy's thick hand away and rested his own back on the red tuft of curls, but was surprised when he started to hear a low groan come out of Kyle's mouth, "Kyle?"

"Wake up and get out of my damn car, Kahl!" he in turn pushed Stan's hand back again and grabbed at the smaller boy's chin and pulled it to face him, "Open your eyes and look at me, asshole!"

"Get off of my face, dip-shit…!" everybody in the car was shocked but relieved to see the boy now move to swat away the hunk of meat that was gripped to his jaw, growling quietly. His eyes hadn't opened, but he was showing a lot more signs of life than he had been before, even though he did still seem quite delirious in his state of semi-consciousness, "Wait... why am I in your car, fat ass?"

He kept his head down on Stan's legs and his eyes stayed pressed firmly together as he asked the question to a now calmed down Cartman, "Because I brought you home. You've been out of it for a while, you lazy Jew rat."

The redhead heaved himself up and lay his head against the seat behind him, clutching at his head dizzily, "Dude… what the fuck happened to me?" he was still addressing the larger boy, seemingly oblivious to anybody else being with them as he still refused to open his eyes.

"A whole load of crazy shit."

"Good ol' South Park, right?" he chuckled weakly as he felt his head begin to feel lighter and began to slide down to the other side of the car that Kenny had been sitting in before. His face collided with the door and he moaned at the impact, but just stayed in that position, "Ok, whatever dude, call me when the apocalypse is over…" his head fell backwards as he appeared to fall back asleep.

"-The fuck, Kahl…? Don't go back to sleep! Get out of my car first!" he sighed as he turned back around and flopped down into his own chair, banging his head against the back of it.

He got no response from Kyle and so he hit hard at the centre of his steering wheel, causing a loud beep from the horn to ring out.

"No, don't do that!" Stan quickly nudged at Cartman who just glared back at him.

"Why the fuck not?"

"Because if his mom or dad hear you they'll come out here and-"

"His dad's a pussy, what the hell will he do? And his mom's a f-"

"Don't call my mom a bitch, Cartman…" Kyle had managed to drag his leg over and kick the back of Cartman's chair, but he still didn't appear to be fully aware of his actions as he quite gently sighed at the comment.

"Jesus Christ, Kahl! I told you to stop kicking my fucking chair!" as he again got no response he just clapped his hand over his own eyes and used his other hand to gesture at Stan in annoyance, "Get him out of my car."

Stan quirked his eyebrow at the command but then shook his head, "If we send him in like that his parents will think he's drunk or high or something. We can't let them think that."

"Then what do you propose we do, hippy? 'Cause he's sure as hell not chillin' in here 'till he wakes up," he glanced over at the redhead and frowned, "That's gonna take a pretty long time."

The dark haired boy frowned as well but then sighed as he pulled his phone back out and began to make another call.

"What the fuck do you _want_, dude?"

"I need your help-"

"No."

"Hear me out, Ike! It's not just me who needs you, it's Kyle-"

"Kyle? What the hell have you done to him now? If you've hurt him again you-" Stan dragged the phone away from his ear as he heard the young boy shout a lot of colorful words, insults and threats back at him through the receiver.

He waited until he could hear silence on the other side and put it back to the side of his face, "I haven't done anything to him, but he just kinda… passed out."

"Oh yeah, like I'm gonna believe that! What you didn't finish him off last time so you thought you'd come back for more?" Ike's voice was getting increasingly louder as his anger increased too.

"Look dude-"

"Just give it to me you stupid hippy!" Cartman mumbled as he snatched the phone away, "Ike?"

"Cartman? What the hell, why are you with Stan? I thought you hated him?"

"I do. Well, actually apparently we're on some kind of truce thing or some other kind of crap," he saw Stan frown but carried on, "But that really isn't the point. Look, I need you to distract your parents for a few minutes so we can get Kahl in the house without them wondering what's happened to him."

"What _has_ happened to him?"

"Help me and I'll tell you, if you don't we'll just leave Kahl on an ice cold street corner to freeze to death; your choice, brah."

"Cartman!" Wendy and Stan both scowled at him but once again he ignored them and just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"What? What kind of decision is that?"

"Your one. You know me; you know I'm not even bluffing. So hurry up, go distract your parents and help us get Kahl discreetly to his room, we're outside right now."

"Fine, give me three minutes" he huffed, knowing he would have no choice but to help the teens at some point eventually, and he wanted his brother back so the faster he gave in, the better.

Ike hung up the phone with a loud sigh and sat backwards in his desk chair, clutching at his head as he tried to come up with a fast way of distracting his parents from seeing his brother enter the house. His mother had already been fretting over his disappearance, he obviously hadn't come home at the time he usually did and so she had gotten slightly panicky, but Ike had just instantly covered for his older brother and told them he was staying at a friend's house and they had already approved it but they just couldn't remember it at the time.

He had pulled that excuse out plenty of times before, but they always assumed he was telling the truth and would drop the matter whilst contemplating their seemingly deteriorating memory states. He was used to covering for Kyle as he knew how much random stuff the boys would get up to and so it was just easier for both of the boys to lie because if they didn't, Ike would usually get dragged along to go and find him anyway and he couldn't be bothered with that, he had his own stuff to do.

He drummed his fingers on his desk impatiently, waiting for a stroke of genius to arise. His mother had ears like a hawk and it was going to be pretty hard to get his brother in without making up too much noise so he would need to come up with an excuse for that too. As he glanced around his room he noticed the crayons and paper on the table in front of him and he had an idea as he started scribbling quickly.

"Ok, so what are we waiting for?"

"I can't tell you, it's a surprise. But I don't know where I've left it, so if you hear me running up and down the stairs or some banging, it's just me look for your absolutely amazing gift that I worked so hard on and I just couldn't wait to show to you," Ike batted his eyelashes sweetly as he ushered his mother and father to cover their eyes with their hands, "And no peeking, or I'll be really sad and it'll ruin it all, ok?"

"Ok, bubbe, just hurry up because mommy has some dishes to wash," Sheila cooed as she sat excitedly behind her hands; as usual Gerald followed but had no additional commentary on the matter.

Ike silently sighed in relief and flipped his phone open:

_*Ike- Coast is clear, get in here, not much time*_

He ran over to the front door and opened it up slowly as he saw Cartman and Stan pulling an unconscious Kyle up the path. He was in the middle and his arms were draped over both boys' shoulders as they dragged him over.

"What the fuck have you done to him you asshole!" Ike hissed quietly at Stan who looked taken aback by the comment.

Before the dark haired teenager had a chance to retaliate, however they were interrupted by the brunette, "Guys, just get him up there, we don't have time for this crap!"

They just sighed and nodded in agreement as the Canadian stood back and allowed them to enter the door. They walked quickly over to the stairs but on the way the two supporting boys tried to swerve around a coffee table but they had gone in different directions and so they ended up with Kyle crashing over it.

The two boys cursed silently and looked at the door to the kitchen, panicked, but watched as Ike hesitated and then called out loudly, "Urm… It's not by the coffee table…"

Stan and Cartman glanced at each other, confused, but then they continued to drag Kyle to the other side of the room. As they did so they realized it would be pretty hard for them both to drag him up there.

"Ike, have you found it?"

"N-no, not yet, ma, just… Just give me another minute!" he called out loudly before murmuring to the teenagers, "Come on, we don't have much time! Hurry up and get out!"

"Fine…" Cartman rubbed his neck in frustration, contemplating the situation, "Stan you can carry him up there, right? Get him in his room and sneak out of the window and just run home or something, that way they won't hear the front door opening again."

"Run home? What about you?"

"I've got to drop Wendy home, and then I've got go all the way back to my house. I've been driving all day, man, I'm fucking tired as it is and your house is only a couple blocks away," Cartman protested as he looked at a frowning Stan.

"Whatever…" He sighed as he clasped Kyle's small body carefully, "But how am I going to get out of his window? I'm not jumping that far down!"

"Just use the ledges. It's pretty easy to climb down, actually."

"You've snuck out of his window before?" Stan looked confused.

"Yeah, loads of times. I thought you knew that already?"

"Oh…" he thought that that was a bit weird as he felt his jealousy creep back up inside of him, although he didn't really know why; it just made him feel like they were all secretly meeting up without him behind his back, but he tried not to dwell on it, "Ok, fine, I'll do that, Cartman you can leave and Ike you go and deal with your parents. Don't worry I'll try not to make too much noise."

The younger boy glared at him and then looked at his older brother and sighed loudly before angrily whispering, "Fine- just hurry up and get lost."

He then quickly picked up a scrap of paper that had actually been on the coffee table all along and ran back into the kitchen, making sure he shut the door loudly behind him.

The paper was another one of Ike's drawings, however this one was of a much lower standard than the other one he had drawn for Kyle whilst the older boy was in the hospital. This one consisted of two tall adults and two short children in 'stick people' form that were all standing underneath a glowing sun. Each of the people had no defining features apart from their hair or hats. Quickly scribbled underneath each of these people were the names 'Mommy', 'Daddy', 'Kyle' and 'Ike' and then underneath that in bigger letters were the words 'My Family'. The picture had been rushed and was messy, but he presented it to his parents with a faux sense of pride as he observed them try to pretend to be thrilled by it.

"Oh, bubbe, what a… marvelous picture! That can go straight on the fridge," she got out of her chair and Ike subconsciously jumped in front of the door to block it, even though that wasn't where she was going to go to, but now she looked slightly suspicious, "Ike? Why are you blocking the door? Have you broken something?"

"I-I…" he was unusually stuck for a comeback as he wondered if the boys had evacuated the room behind him, but quickly resorted to his normal charming self, "No, of course I haven't, but don't you like my picture, mommy? I made it just for you two and I worked really hard on it," he made puppy-dog eyes at her as she just sighed lightly and placed the picture on the fridge with a magnet and went back over to the sink to carry on doing the dishes.

Phew, danger avoided.

Upstairs, Stan was carrying Kyle towards his bedroom. The redhead was now semi-conscious again, but everything that came out of his mouth seemed to be nonsensical.

"Cartman, why do goats have beards?"

The dark haired boy sighed, "Once again, I'm not Cartman. It's Stan now. Cartman went back to his car. And you need to be quiet or your parents will hear you."

"Wow, Cartman, you lost a lot of weight, fat boy," he chuckled loudly as he poked at Stan's rib.

"Kyle! Be quiet!" He quickly whipped open the boy's bedroom door, dropped him on the bed carefully and went back to close the door as quietly as possible and sighed, "What is wrong with you?"

"I-I hit my head…" he flipped over onto his front so that the rest of his words were muffled as he patted at a patch of his head, before he tried to pull himself back up, looking panicked, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God…"

"What? What is it? Are you bleeding or something?" Stan became worried as he heard his best friend's tone.

"I-I… oh my God... where's my hat?" his voice choked as he sounded like he wanted to burst into tears, his eyes now wide open but blank and obviously still half asleep.

"Oh…" he let out a sigh of relief, "its right here, buddy."

He opened his jacket and revealed the lime green hat that Stan had stuffed inside his coat so that they wouldn't forget to pick it up. He went and sat next to Kyle on the bed and placed in gently in the boys hands as the redhead scrambled to put it back on. He watched as he pushed his mass of red curls into the tightly fitting hat and let a small smile tug at his mouth.

"Wait," Kyle staggered off of his bed, clutching at his head, "Wait here…" he then walked off into his bathroom and slammed the door closed.

Stan winced at the loud bang, but stayed sat on the bed patiently. At first he had assumed that he was just going to go and pee or something, but he seemed to have been in there a long time. As he got up from his position and walked closer to the door, he could hear a mixture of the redhead murmuring to himself and humming quietly, covered by the sound of gushing water. He sighed and went back to lie on his friend's bed quietly, thinking over his day's events in his head, wondering how much of it Kyle could actually remember as he seemed to have some kind of temporary amnesia right now. He didn't know whether or not that was a good thing; it was bad because it meant that the boy would have forgotten the moment they had shared with their lips locked together and his initial declaration of his love, but it was good because he now had a chance to have those moments again, but this time do it right and do it romantically, instead of screaming it at knife point.

After about half an hour of becoming lost in his own thoughts, Stan was surprised to see a half naked Kyle come waltzing out of the bathroom, with nothing on but a loosely knotted towel around his waist and rubbing another one through his curly red locks. He seemed completely oblivious to the dark haired boy even being in the room, walking straight over to his dresser to find some pyjamas The redhead still looked like he wasn't fully awake and aware of his actions as he continued to hum to himself quietly.

Just before he pulled the towel down, Stan heard himself squeak, "Kyle?" as his face began to heat up and he looked away quickly.

As the redhead saw him lying on his bed, he let out a quiet scream, "Argh! Stan, what the hell are you doing in here? I thought… I thought you were…" he looked perplexed as he tried to think, but then realized his state of dress and quickly ran back into the bathroom and put some clothes on before returning, "Where's Cartman…? I don't remember what... he's involved in whatever it is that's going on here, right… what did he do to me...?" he sighed and sat down on his desk chair, placing his head down into his crossed arms on top of the table.

Stan moaned loudly, "That wasn't Cartman, that was me!"

"Y-you knocked me unconscious? Again…?" he lifted his head and looked at the boy before slamming his head back into his arms, "Oh God, they were right…"

"No I didn't- wait," he sat up, his face puzzled, "Who was right? About what?"

"I dunno… just people in general. They asked me why I was defending you… why I didn't just kick your ass in return… but I didn't and now I've obviously just-"

"Kyle, I haven't done anything to you now! You hit your head in Cartman's car, that's all!"

"See… I knew that stupid fat ass was involved…" he sighed, his head still in his hands.

"So… Why did you defend me then?"

"Huh?"

"When I didn't go in the hospital with you last week, you said if I didn't come in with you, you weren't going to come back for me… but you did," he watched the redhead as his head turned to the side so that it was still resting on his arms but he could return the stare.

"I dunno. You're my best friend… It's what I'm meant to do… Urgh, My head is killing me…" he yawned loudly as he fought to keep his eyes open.

Stan contemplated continuing and asking him more questions, but instead he just got up and grabbed hold of Kyle's hands and pulled him over to his bed seeing how tired the boy was. He let the boy get settled into the sheets and heard him let out a small content sigh before he felt himself be pulled down onto the bed next to him.

His eyes went wide as he saw how close their faces were now, especially as Kyle slowly opened his own green orbs and was staring sluggishly back at him, "Are you staying over tonight?"

The dark haired boy considered the option. He was planning on going home, but he realized that he wasn't really in a rush to have to go back and tell his family what had happened to him. Instead, he went and grabbed his own spare pajamas from the bottom of Kyle's drawer, put them on and slipped into the bed with the redhead.

When the boys slept at each other's houses before, they would often just share one bed instead of having to blow up an air mattress or sleep in a sleeping bag because it was just much easier for them and since they were so close it wasn't that weird for them to just do it, especially as they had been doing it for as long as they could remember. It was just something they did and didn't really think about that much, but now Stan was reminiscing back to all the times he had been this close to Kyle and wondered how he had never realized the strong feelings he was harboring for the boy. He watched as the redhead quickly fell asleep and his warm breath could be felt on the dark haired boy's cheek as he faced him. He couldn't help but lean forward and kiss him on the forehead slowly, but the Jew didn't even flinch at the touch as the boy whispered quietly, "I really do love you, Kyle."

**A/N: When in doubt, lose all memory of the day's events. Like, twice.**

**So, unfortunately guys, this story might be ending pretty soon, D':**

**I think its run its course, if I just keep adding stuff it might get a bit too long and boring after a while.**

**But hopefully you've all enjoyed the ride and will enjoy the last chapters just as much, because remember, it's still not over yet!**

**I miss Butters. I'll probably bring him back soon.**

**Oh, and is totally whore-ish to ask you guys to recommend my stuff to your friends? Hahahaha.**

**But seriously, thanks for reading and for every review I get, I will eat some chocolate. If you want me to be happy and eat chocolate, please review! :3 (or if you don't want me to be happy and eat chocolate, I'd still appreciate a review anyway, as I've said, they brighten up my day:D)**

**That is all for now my lovelies, **

**^.^ XXX**


	18. Rhetorical Questions

Kyle yawned loudly, his eyes still shut as he tiredly awoke to the low drone of his alarm clock going off. As he did so, he attempted to roll over to get up but was confused when he felt something gripping tightly at his waist. As he opened his eyes slowly, they widened in shock as he saw Stan lying next to him, his muscular arms wound tightly around his small body.

He quickly squirmed out of the boy's hold and clutched at his own head, trying to remember what had actually happened the night before. He could now remember everything that had happened up until the kiss, but everything after that was a complete blur. He looked over his body quickly and was relieved that he still had his clothes on and nothing apart from a small bump on his head was hurting, so at least he was certain nothing 'too extreme' had happened.

"Stan? Dude... Wake up..." he nudged at the raven who started to groan next to him.

"What time is it...?" he rubbed at his eyes as he sat up, his legs now hanging off of the side of the bed.

"Time for school," he yawned again as he moved to sit next to his friend.

"Oh, right... school..." he cupped his face in his hands, "I don't think I'm ready to go back yet."

"Yeah... I guess you need time to sort yourself out, right?" he was still lethargic as he got up and started stretching his limbs and tried to avoid any eye-contact, "So... um... Stan? What actually happened last night...?"

"Last night? Do you remember what happened in the afternoon?" he lifted his head slowly.

"Er... yeah..." he flushed slightly as he hesitated and turned away from his best friend, "Up until... we..."

The boy smiled weakly at the redhead, "Well long story short, you passed out and we brought you home. And if you're wondering, I'm still here because you asked if I wanted to stay the night, I didn't like force myself in here."

"Oh..."

He stood up and stopped in front of the Jew who was still trying not to look at him in the eye, "Have you... have you thought about it? About... us?"

"If I had, I can't remember it... my mind's still a bit muddled," he walked away and pulled out some jeans and a t-shirt out of his closet drawer, discreetly picked up his cell phone from where he left it the night before and headed towards his bathroom, "I've got to go get ready..."

Stan didn't get a chance to reply as the other boy hurried off and slammed the door shut, so instead he just groaned and sat back on the bed.

Why was Kyle keeping him in such suspense? Was he purposely trying to get him to be aggravated again? Was he testing him? Or did he just want to stall time to avoid having to reject him point-blank? Either way, it was really starting to get to him. He didn't understand and all he wanted was to just know what it was that was going through the redhead's mind.

Kyle splashed his face with water and stared at his reflection in the mirror with a loud sigh. You could still see a few faded marks on his face if you were purposely looking for them, but apart from that it wasn't that bad. He reached over and opened his phone and saw he had a message from his one of his friends.

_*Cartman- r u comin 2 skool 2day? I'm drivin. I'll be at ures with the poor boy in a bit.*_

He stared at the message, deep in thought. He didn't know whether or not going back to school again would be a good idea. He still wasn't in that great of a mental state and he knew that if he went to school he wouldn't really be able to focus anyway. He dialled the number for Cartman and tapped his leg impatiently as he leaned against the wall waiting for the boy to pick up.

"Hello?"

"'Sup Jew. Did you get my text?"

"Yeah, but I'm still not sure whether I'm going or not...do you think I should?" he sighed quietly

"Yeah, why not? Are you still feeling loopy?"

"No... I just don't know if I'll be able to think straight."

"Oh, well me and Kenny are still going, so do you want me to drive you or not?"

He frowned to himself at Cartman's lack of compassion, but then looked thoughtful as he contemplated the situation he was in before sighing again, but this time louder, "Yeah, I guess I'll go. I've missed enough school as it is."

"Whatever. I'll be there pretty soon so you better not keep my waiting."

"Ok, but-" before he could finish the sentence he heard Cartman hang up on him and he cursed under his breath.

"Kyle? Who are you talking to?" Stan was outside the door trying to understand the quiet murmuring he could hear from the bathroom.

"Um, I was on the phone," he shouted back out to him as he attempted to change into his clothes, "But I'm going to school today, so if you're going to come, there are some of your clothes in the bottom drawer."

The dark haired boy went back over to where the redhead had told him to look and as he opened it he saw something that was lying next to it. It appeared to be a purple t-shirt that was way too big to be one of Kyle's. As he held it up to inspect it more closely, he frowned. It was obviously Cartman's and he didn't know why, but it just really annoyed him that the redhead just had the larger boy's clothing lying around in his room.

As the Jew walked into the room he watched in confusion as Stan examined the piece of clothing further, "What are you doing?"

"Why have you got Cartman's shirt? And why was it with my stuff?"

"Because I was wearing it and-"

"You wore his shirt?"

Kyle raised his eyebrow as he saw the dark haired boy frown even more, "Yeah, he let me borrow it when I was in the hospital because I didn't have any other clothes... "

"Oh... but why didn't you give it back?"

"Because he said that it had been infected by my 'Jew germs' and so he told me to leave it here for any time he stays over so no more of his clothes get contaminated or some other stupid shit."

"Cartman stays over here?"

"Yeah, him and Kenny stay all the time. I would invite you, but you always say no when I want you to hang out with us all and so I didn't think you'd want to," as he saw the expression on Stan's face he crossed his arms as he arched his eyebrow again, "Why does it matter?"

"You just seem to be such good friends with him nowadays and you're pushing me away... it was always my stuff that stayed here for when we slept over, not his-"

"You have got to be kidding me... You're not jealous, are you?"

"Should I be? Should I be, Kyle? You've rarely spent any actual time with me before yesterday and I've basically just given you my heart and you won't even give me a straight answer about whether you feel the same way or not! You probably don't, right? I bet..." he was starting to get infuriated, "I bet that you were on the phone to Cartman in there, right? Telling him that you were so annoyed that I was still here and you just want him to come and-"

"Stan, stop it, you're acting crazy-"

"Am I? Because to me it just seems like you care a lot more about that fat ass than me! If it was Kenny, it would still be bad, but not _as_ bad. But Cartman? With the amount of shit he's put you though and you still like him better than me?"

"What? Stan, we're best friends, why would-"

"Are we? Because yesterday when you were totally out of it in the car, the only person you talked to was Cartman and then when I brought you inside you kept calling me by his name! So is he your best friend now, Kyle? I bet that's the only reason you asked me to stay here, right? Because you thought that I was him? It would make sense as seen as you have clothes for him here already."

"Did I...?" he thought back but couldn't remember anything about the previous night's events, "Well there was probably a reason for that; it's much easier to try to focus your mind when you've found one thing you can definitely recognize... plus I wasn't thinking properly anyway, dude. But anyway, that doesn't matter because-"

"Doesn't it?-"

"Stop with the damn rhetorical questions, Stan!" he groaned loudly and pulled the purple garment out of the dark haired boy's hands and threw it at the carpeted floor, "Look, you mean more to me than I can even put into words. For as long as I can remember, you have always been in my life. Just because I'm friends with other people doesn't mean that you aren't still one of the most important people in my life."

"But-"

Kyle took a deep breath and stared straight back into his friend's eyes, "Stan, I-"

Before he could finish what he was about to say, he heard a loud car horn beeping outside of his window. He sighed and dragged himself over to the window and saw the familiar yellow car parked outside. He looked back at Stan who was staring at him expectantly and dropped his head to avoid eye-contact, "I've gotta go... Do you still not want to go to school today?"

"What?" he ran over to the window and let out a loud moan as he saw Cartman's car, "So once again you're choosing to go with Cartman over me?"

"I'm not choosing anyone! He's just giving me a ride to school," he groaned, annoyed at Stan's equally annoyed tone, "So... what are you going to do? Because I'm going with them. Are you coming or not?"

"Kyle... don't go... stay with me..." he tried to make a grab for the boy's hands but they were pulled away.

"Bye, Stan," he sighed as he turned to walk out of the door.

"Fine, whatever, leave me, see if I fucking care..." he muttered to himself angrily.

"I'll call you later, dude. Make sure you lock the door before you leave, too," he reached his bedroom door and turned around, "Because we're so close that you have keys to my house Stan, but unlike you, Kenny and Cartman don't" he sighed again loudly before walking out and closing the door behind him.

"Well it doesn't seem like Cartman needs a key, he just jumps through your window whenever he wants to, doesn't he?" he yelled as he heard the front door of the house slam shut but he quickly slapped his hand over his mouth and murmured quietly, "I really hope his parents aren't home..."

Luckily for Stan, they weren't home. Unbeknownst to him, Ike had already implemented his usual plan to get his mother out of the house extremely early so she wouldn't realise that Kyle was actually in the house and his father was at work so the dark haired teen now had the house to himself. He just flopped back onto the redhead's bed and attempted to go back to sleep, although it wasn't easy.

Outside, Kyle slammed the door of Cartman's car as he got in and sat down in the front seat. He dropped his head into his hands and let out a quiet scream before looking back up at the two boys who were staring at him.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Kenny questioned from the back seat.

"Stan's being a prick."

"See, I told you we shouldn't have gone to find him," he shrugged his shoulders as he turned the engine on and started to drive in the direction of their school, "Did he call you or something?"

"No, he stayed over."

"What the hell? I told him to go out through the window, why did he stay?" he shook his head in annoyance.

"I don't know, he said I asked him if he wanted to but I don't really remember anything from last night so... who knows. But what did you say to him about windows? Because he shouted something about those as I left the house but I couldn't really hear him properly..." he stared at his large friend in confusion.

"I just told him to bring you to your room and then leave through the window. He got all pissy about why I know how to get through there though for some reason."

"Because he's a jealous bitch," he chuckled bitterly.

"Yeah, sounds about right."

"But even though he is one... I actually think that after all that's happened... I kinda... after we... I..." he trailed off as he started to flush scarlet.

"Do you like him? As in, _like_ him, like him?" Kenny asked, his voice sounding encouraging.

He nodded his head slowly, his face still red, before muttering, "But I still don't know if I'm going to do anything about it."

Instead of making a snide comment about hearing about his friend's feelings towards the dark haired boy, he just stayed quiet before asking quietly, "Why not?"

"What?" Kyle looked back at him, puzzled.

"Why aren't you going to do anything about it? If you like him... you should tell him, right...?"

The redhead was still confused. He had basically just told them that he liked another guy and Cartman hadn't started ripping on him for being gay and actually seemed to genuinely want to know why he didn't want to pursue it. He raised his eyebrow as he tried to see any signs that the boy was just being sarcastic, but he couldn't find any. All he could see was the blank look that was on Cartman's face as he concentrated on the road.

"I... I don't know. I just don't think it would work... he just seems like he'd be too clingy and over-protective and jealous."

"So what are you going to do, then?"

"I have no idea, dude," he sighed as he carefully leaned his still sore head on the window and stared at passing traffic.

The rest of the journey was silent as each boy sat consumed within their own thoughts. As they approached the school, Kyle spoke up.

"Oh crap, I think I left my back pack at home..." he looked panicked as he spoke but was then relieved to see Kenny lift a bag from the back seat.

"No, you just left it in here yesterday. Why, is there something important in there?"

"Yeah, my English assignment that Wendy and I still haven't given in. Mrs Graham's going to be super pissed off at us."

"You can't help that you were in hospital for the last week, Kahl! It's not that big of a deal if it's a couple days late; she's a total bitch if she still gets angry at you," Cartman responded parking up the car.

"She's still smokin' hot though," Kenny smirked as they all got out of the car.

"She's not that hot, Kenny."

"You would say that, gay boy," Cartman sniggered.

"I was wondering when you would start with that crap, fat boy! Don't fucking start anything with me, Cartman; it's your fault Stan's getting so pissed at me anyway, so I'm not in the mood!"

"My fault? Why the hell is it my fault?"

"Because you left your shirt at my house and some other stupid shit..." Kyle shrugged his shoulders moodily as they walked into the school building.

As they walked down the hall, the redhead could feel the stares of his peers as they watched him go to his locker, whispering quietly to each other. He felt extremely self conscious as they continued, especially as he didn't really know why.

"What are they all staring at?" Kyle hissed quietly to Kenny who just shrugged his shoulders and looked around.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because of the whole hospital thing? I know not a lot of people had heard about it yesterday, so maybe they only just found out about it?"

"Maybe," he just sighed as they turned to walk away.

As he did so, he heard his name being called out from a group of seemingly amused jocks, "Yo, Broflovski, get over here!"

Kyle shot a few sceptical glances at his friends before approaching the gang apprehensively, his hands pushed into his pockets and his head bent down. He knew quite a lot of them because they were all on Stan's football team, but he had never had a proper conversation with any of them and didn't really find the idea very appealing.

"Yeah?" he tried to fake some enthusiasm but it didn't really work.

"So is all that stuff they're saying about Marsh true?" Clyde stood at the front and addressed the redhead, a small smirk on his lips as he glanced at his friends around him.

"Why do you care?" he glared up at the tall brunette that just shrugged his shoulders.

"Because it's hilarious."

"Hilarious? How the fuck is it hilarious?" he got angry as they all just started laughing again.

"Because everyone could tell it was going to happen eventually, it was totally freaking obvious, bro."

"You don't even know the full story-"

"What else is there to know apart from that he's a gay little fag, now?"

"Wait, what?" Kyle started to panic again as he heard him say that; he had thought they were talking about Stan hitting out at him, not about that, "How do you know about that already...?"

"Butters told us," Clyde just let out another chuckle as he saw the redhead get red with anger and storm off, "Come on guys, let's get to practice."

As they shuffled off, Kyle was tearing through crowds of gawping people looking for the small blonde haired boy. As he turned around a corner, he saw Butters standing alone by his locker and he ran over to him, grabbing at him and pushing him up against the metal.

"Aah! K-Kyle? Kyle put me down!"

"What the hell is your problem? Why did you tell everybody about Stan?" he was fuming as he glared at the boy in front of him.

"I-I didn't mean to... It was an accident, honest!"

"How is something like that an accident?"

"I was just talking to Bradley when I phoned him on the bus this morning and he told me and I kinda blurted it out loud because I was shocked and then people were asking me questions about it and I'm not a good liar and I didn't mean to tell them but please don't hurt me, Kyle!"

The redhead looked into the blonde's scared eyes and sighed loudly as he let go of him, "I'm sorry, Butters... I'm just a little on edge right now..."

"Golly, I didn't mean to make you mad, I just-"

"No, it isn't your fault Butters, it was going to come out eventually anyway. I guess its better that it's now when he's not here so that when he comes back to school all of the gossip has died down a bit..."

The nervous blonde stood knocking his knuckles together as he watched the redhead sigh and slide down the locker so that he was sitting on the floor, his faced cupped in his hands in frustration. The boy was muttering something to himself as Butters sat next to him timidly.

"Well, um, Kyle? Bradley said to remind you... that if you are still being stubborn and haven't told Stan how you feel yet, then, um, you should," his voice was quiet as he offered a small smile.

"Urgh..." he said something after that that was muffled but he lifted his head and looked back at Butters who was still smiling at him nervously.

Before they could continue their conversation, a school bell rang out signalling the beginning of the day's lessons, "Aw, hamburgers, we'd better go."

"Sure, whatever," he stood up and extended his hand to help up Butters, "This is going to be a long day..."

"It's alright, Kyle, I'm still here for you if you need me. I mean, you're always nice to me, so if you want me to fight anyone off or need any help with anything-"

"Thanks," he smiled with a light-hearted laugh; he appreciated the thought behind it, but Butters wouldn't be much help in any kind of confrontation whatsoever.

As they walked side by side down the corridors, he could still hear people whispering but as he listened more closely and thought about it, he realized that the story seemed to be changing wildly, which was to be expected, but it still confused him.

"Butters, what exactly did you tell people?"

"I, er, I just shouted 'Stan's gay?' quite loudly when I was on the phone but I didn't know it was that loud but then everybody was asking me questions but I told them I didn't know nothing but they kept asking so I told them that you knew more than me and they left me alone... truthfully I don't really know much anyway, Bradley said I should let you and Stan tell me in your own time."

"Bradley seems to say a lot of things," he chuckled again.

"Yeah, he's really smart," he smiled brightly before stopping outside of a classroom, "Well I've got to go now, but I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, whatever," he shrugged his shoulders with a weak smile before continuing on to his own classroom.

For the entire morning, Kyle was bombarded by questions from his peers, wondering what exactly had happened to the dark haired boy who had been missing for so long. Surprisingly, not many people actually cared about the fact that they now knew that Stan was gay, mainly because it seemed to be getting left out of quite a lot of the stories that were being circulated, but they more cared about the fact that all of the boys had been absent for a while and they were interested to know why.

There had been other rumours going around about the dark haired boy hitting out at the redhead before and so people were trying to figure out what was true and what wasn't, even though they then continued to distort the actual truth even more. Kyle had given them a basic explanation of, 'Stan and I got in an argument and got in a fight and then he took some time off to sort out his head,' but most people just made up their own assumptions as to what the arguments were about meaning that nobody really had the true side of the story.

Kyle realized that Wendy wasn't in school that day when he went to his English class, but he hadn't really been expecting her to. A lot of people were asking the redhead about her too; if Stan was gay now, what did that mean for her? A lot of other rumours were going around about her too, a lot of them crazy ideas like 'she committed suicide when she found out about Stan' to 'she's getting an abortion because she doesn't want her baby to have a gay dad'.Obviously these were all completely false, and they also didn't know about Cartman, but the larger boy had no intention of informing them about it for the simple fact that he didn't want to get any more involved than he already was.

As the redhead, the two blondes and the fat brunette sat attempting to eat their lunch, Cartman was getting continually irritated by the people staring and asking questions, "Get the fuck away from us!"

Kyle sighed quietly, "Why do they even care? It's not that big of a deal..."

"D-do you want me to make them go away? I can make them leave you alone if you want!" Butters stammered eagerly, still feeling like he had to make it up to them for being the one to let the news about Stan slip.

"Shut up, Butters," the brunette growled, taking a swig of his drink.

"Cartman, stop being a dick," the redhead nudged him in the ribs before turning back to the small blonde, "It's fine, dude. They'll get bored eventually."

"Really? Are you sure, because-"

"Yes, Butters, so just drop it," he moodily picked up a French fry and ate it quickly before pulling out his phone to check if he had any messages.

He had two; one from Wendy and one from Stan.

*Wendy- I'm sorry I didn't come today, how did you do in English? I'll be back tomorrow x*

*Stan- I'm sorry I went a bit crazy this morning, I was just scared because I don't want to lose you. Forgive me?x*

Kyle just rolled his eyes as he read the second text and stuffed his phone back in his pocket.

"What's wrong? Is it Stan?" Kenny reached across and stole one of his friend's fries as he saw the boy get distracted.

"It's... nothing... It's... everything... It's... I don't even know anymore," he sighed again and pushed his plate of food away from himself and in the tall blonde's direction to which he tucked in happily after giving the redhead a look of sympathy.

"Just fuck him and get it over with, dude. We all knew that this was going to happen sooner or later," the larger boy smirked at the pissed off Jew who just nudged him again, but this time harder.

"I hate you, Cartman. I really do."

"No you don't, _friend_," he pronounced the word slowly with a wider smirk on his face.

Kyle glared at him for a moment before standing up, pushing his hands into his pockets and walking away.

"Ky, where are you going?" Kenny called out, his voice muffled as he continued to stuff his mouth full of more French fries.

"To call Stan."

**A/N: Oh my gosh, I think I'm running out of my creative juices. **

**Kyle likes Stan YAY. And he got his memory back YAY. Well, kind of. YAY.**

**Everytime I want Kyle to admit his feelings for Stan I go 'NOOOO' because it annoys me too much and I have to edit it. Sorry. Clichés may not be all that bad generally, but they seriously piss me off sometimes. **

**Butters is a cutie. Aww.**

**Oh, and this chapter was meant to be longer, so the next one might either be quite short or really long because I didn't want to end it here, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting too long for an update...**

**I don't think I have much else to say in here today, which is a bit of a bummer, but I guess you guys'll be happy about that. :P**

**LOVE YOU GUYS. (especially when you review. Just saying. And to the people that consistently review this story, you are some of the most awesome people EVAR.)**

**^.^ XXX**


	19. You Should Tell Him

"So are you going out with Stan now?"

"What?"

"It's a simple question; rumors are going around, what's the answer?" his usual monotonous voice could be heard behind Kyle as the redhead turned around to face the boy staring at him.

"Craig, I don't have time for this."

"It's a simple question," he echoed, his arms hanging at his sides and his fingers drumming on his legs as he just gazed back, waiting for an answer.

"Well it doesn't have a simple answer," Kyle sighed, not really paying attention to what he was saying as he opened his phone again and began to dial Stan's number.

"So, yes?"

"Why are you always questioning me?" he glared at the blue hatted boy in annoyance.

"I like to know the truth instead of listening to rumors. I can't ask Stan; he's not here. So I have to ask you."

"Whatever," he rolled his eyes and gestured for the boy to leave as he sat down by a wall.

To his frustration, instead of going away, Craig was alone instead of being followed by his usual gang and so just plopped down next to him, his legs pulled in as he sat patiently. The area was clear of any other people and so the two were alone as Kyle sighed and carried on calling his best friend.

"Hello?"

"Kyle, look…I'm so sorry about this morning-"

"You've already said. I don't really care about that," he glanced at the boy next to him but sighed again and carried on talking, "All I care about is why you think you're losing me. Because you're not."

"Well… You just seem to like hanging out with other people way more than me and it just… You seem so happy with them and I don't want to ask you to leave the people that make you happy, even if that means I don't get to have you myself…" his quiet voice continued to trail off.

"The only reason I hang out with them so much is because when I invite you to come with us you say no and when you did come you barely talked and you just got really annoyed all the time. I just thought _you_ didn't want to be with _me_. Not the other way around."

The other side of the phone stayed silent as Kyle waited for a response. He took the pause as a chance to look back at the other dark haired boy who was still sitting quietly next to him. He wasn't doing anything except for looking straight out ahead of him, his face void of emotion as he did so. He breathed slowly, letting the cold clouds of his breath escape in front of him. The redhead gazed at him curiously, wondering what exactly it was that the boy wanted and why he was there next to him, before he was suddenly distracted.

"I would never not want you around, Kyle. I would stay with you twenty-four seven if I had the option. I want to be with you more than anything in the entire world. But I can't, because you don't feel the same way about me as I feel about you, and I'm just going to have to accept that, right?"

"But, Stan I-" he frowned and then stared at the phone in irritation as he heard the other boy hang up the phone, "Damn it!"

He dropped his head down into his pulled-in knees and held his head in frustration. After he had shouted out, Craig had returned his attention back to the redhead and just stared at him for a while, unsure of how to proceed. He wasn't used to being put in the position of having to be comforting; he much preferred everyone to think that he had no emotion than to try to show any himself, it made life a lot easier when people didn't know what he was thinking. Kyle was showing quite a lot of emotion right now, however, and so he tried to sound reassuring as he spoke.

"Kyle?"

"What do you want? Why are you still here anyway?" he snapped, his voice still muffled as he kept his head down.

"Was that Stan?" he ignored the questions being fired at him and carried on asking his own, his gaze still on the green hatted boy.

"Yes," he growled quietly.

"What did he say?"

He paused before continuing, "Craig, go away; leave me alone."

"No."

"What?" he lifted his head and frowned at him.

"I said 'no'. What's so hard about that?"

"Why are you still here?" he repeated angrily.

"Because I want to talk to you."

"You never want to talk to me. What do you want?"

"I do. Who says I want anything? I talk to you all the time, I don't need to want anything from you," he shrugged his shoulders lazily and went back to staring forward, his back leaning against the cold wall.

Kyle sighed and dropped his head back onto his legs. They both stayed silent for a long time as they both just got lost in their own thoughts. They were outside and so it was pretty cold, but they didn't move as time carried on and they just shivered quietly, hugging their own bodies for warmth.

"I liked Clyde."

Kyle's head sprung up quickly as he gazed at Craig in confusion. The boy was still staring into the distance, his eyes unfocused as he lay with his back against the wall. He momentarily turned his head to look at the redhead but went back to looking forward.

"I liked him for ages, and it was driving me crazy. I didn't do anything about it because he was always out with some other girl and so it didn't seem worth it because I was just going to get rejected anyway. But eventually, I told him and do you know what happened?" he chuckled darkly.

He tried to think back to whether he'd ever seen the two seeming closer than usual. They were close anyway; they were 'bros' as they called it, but he couldn't recall them being any closer than that.

"No, what happened?" he questioned quietly.

"He thought I was joking and laughed about it. Afterwards he kept laughing at it and it drove me insane. So I punched him in the nose."

"Craig, what the hell…?" his voice was sympathetic as he continued to stare at the blank faced boy.

"I was sick of it. After that he was really awkward around me and we didn't talk for ages. He went and spent more time with his jock friends and I stayed with Token and Tweek. I think he's with them right now, actually. I thought I would miss not having him with me at all times like I usually did, but to be honest I didn't. It wasn't until then that I realized that I didn't really 'like' him all that much. I just moved on. We still hang out, we're still bros, but we're not as close as we used to be, I guess," he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he pulled the flaps on his hat down in an attempt to keep a bit of warmth.

Kyle scrunched up his face in further confusion, "Are you just unloading or is there an actual point to this…?"

"There's a point," he went quiet again for a moment before turning his head to look back at the redhead, "I'm assuming Stan likes you, right?" the redheaded boy didn't respond but the other just took his silence as a yes, "Well if you like him too you should tell him, before he gets bored of waiting and moves on."

"What makes you think I like him?" his voice was quiet as he turned away and dropped his head back on his knees before he started to turn slightly pink.

"Well, do you?"

"Yeah…" he whispered, his words purposely muffled again, but Craig could still make them out.

"Have you told him?"

"No, every time I'm about to something happens so that I can't. I think it's a sign," he laughed bitterly as he rubbed his arms with his hands and stared out into the distance.

"You should tell him," he turned back around to face forward as he stared off in the same direction, his facial expression still blank as he did so.

"Why do you even care? We're not that close, why would you want me to?" Kyle replied with a frown.

"So I'm not allowed to want to see people be happy?"

"Well you don't seem happy yourself…"

"So?" his gaze lifted so that he was now staring at the misty sky above them, his voice soft and quiet.

"Craig… how long have you known you were…" his voice trailed off; he still wasn't used to saying the 'g' word.

"Ages."

"So why doesn't anybody know? I mean, this is the first I've ever heard about it… I mean, considering how fast the Stan stuff has spread…"

"Well, it's not exactly something I feel the need to spread around. People can be dicks about that stuff."

"Yeah, I guess…" he sighed quietly.

The dark haired boy stood up in haste, much to Kyle's surprise, and dusted off flakes of snow off of his jeans before looking back at the redhead, "There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Broflovski."

Before he had a chance to reply, he saw the other boy run off quickly and just sighed and fell back onto his knees. Everything Craig had said was swimming around his head manically, causing him to get a bit confused as he tried to rationalize his thoughts.

'You should tell him,' those words were the most prominent thought in his head as he tried to calm himself down a bit.

He heaved himself up with a sigh and looked at his phone. He contemplated calling Stan back and telling him how he really felt, but he couldn't do it. Not now, when he could barely think straight. He wanted to wait until he was alone with the other boy and was able to fully make his feelings clear, free of any interruptions or fainting spells.

Kyle leisurely wandered around the seemingly empty playground trying to clear his head of anything and everything that didn't involve Stan. He wanted to be absolutely, one hundred percent sure of what it was that he wanted before he confronted the situation. He didn't want to be affected by what he assumed he 'had' to do or what was 'meant' to happen; he wanted everything he felt to be genuine and indisputable and not something he's regret somewhere down the line.

As he walked unhurriedly and occasionally kicked at the ground and scuffed his shoes on the concrete, he had his arms crossed across his chest to keep him warm and he breathed slowly and audibly. There still wasn't anybody in sight, but the weather was terrible; the sky was dark and the clouds hung low, the bitter cold gusts of wind prickling his face as he made his way across and so he didn't expect that there would be anybody out there anyway.

The events of the last week were flooding through his mind; the pain, the friendships, the exploration, the love. They all bounced around his head uncontrollably as he let out a loud moan of discontent. For somebody that could easily solve most problems that came hurtling in his direction, this just seemed to be something different completely. Something unsolvable. He knew the answer that Stan wanted him to give, he knew the answer his friends seemed to want him to give, but although he felt like he did, he still wasn't completely convinced he knew what he himself wanted.

As he strolled back to the cafeteria, his mind still deep in thought, he was suddenly distracted by some loud shouting coming from inside the room. He decided to run there and as he entered he was shocked to see that the room seemed to be divided three ways; in one area were the general 'tough' people (quite a lot of the jocks and sport related students, the 'bullies' and then just some other random people on their side), in the second area were a lot of the 'cause' people (the activists; the kind of people that liked to protest points and their views on others, even though most didn't really care- in Cartman's eyes, 'the hippies') and then in the largest area were most of the rest of the student body, intently watching what apparently seemed to be some kind of stand-off.

These occurrences happened all the time and usually ended with 'the hippies' getting beaten senseless before a teacher came and intervened and so Kyle scanned the third crowd quickly to find his friends and take his usual spot to watch. He was puzzled when he couldn't see them there- nobody liked to miss confrontations in school, they were a major event. As he walked closer he noticed that as he did so more and more people went quiet until they stopped talking all together.

He swallowed loudly as he got a horrible twang in his stomach, realizing that now everybody was just staring back at him in silence. He froze in his place as he looked at the two groups arguing and saw Cartman, Kenny and Butters standing at the front of the 'cause' people.

'Oh shit…' Kyle thought as he slowly began to realize what was happening. Before he could make a quick escape, he felt himself be pushed forward into the centre of the room, in between the two groups who were staring at him intently.

"So… er… w-what's going on, guys?" he stammered as he stood awkwardly in the middle.

"We were just discussing your fag of a best friend, Broflovski. Got anything to add?" A tall, brunette jock Kyle identified to be Bruce Ardley sniggered as he took a step forward towards the redhead.

Bruce Ardley was one of the schools 'main bullies'. He would usually be in the middle of any confrontation, and if he wasn't he would put himself into it. He did a lot of extra-curricular activities and so the only reason he hadn't been kicked out of the school yet was the sole reason that the already lacking school needed him to represent them in their various teams. He was a very good player in football, baseball, the wrestling team and many other things; football being his only sport that he wasn't consistently considered the MVP due to Stan usually claiming that title and the dark haired boy only not getting it when he wasn't actually present at the games (which were very rare). Bruce had a large following of friends who usually went along with most of what he said, but he really wasn't a nice person. At all.

Kyle cowered back slightly before feeling himself be pulled back completely by Cartman who was snarling at the other boy, "Don't fucking talk to him you asshole!"

Kyle wasn't sure who exactly the large boy was talking to so he just stayed silent as everybody else watched, a large sense of tension lingering in the air.

"Come on Cartman, you're normally on our side for this kind of stuff, what's going on? Or are you one of them too?" Bruce sneered as the fat boy pushed the redhead further back and squared up to the other brunette.

"No I'm not 'one of them', but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit here and let you rip on my friends without me doing anything about it, dickhead!"

"Aww, the little piggy has feelings now," he laughed loudly as the gang of people did the same, "Are you sure none of Marsh's queerness has rubbed off on you?"

"What the fuck did you just call me?" his voice was quiet as his body trembled and his face reddened with anger.

"Ha, the piggy's getting pinker!"

Just as Cartman was about to attempt to lunge forward, Kyle and Kenny quickly latched on at both of his arms to stop him getting away. He struggled furiously, his limbs flailing as he shouted obscenities into the air, but as he started to calm himself down a bit, he felt the grasp on one of his arms loosen.

Kyle had darted forward and was now standing in front of Bruce and his cronies, his hands in fists in his pockets whilst he glared up at the jock who was staring back condescendingly.

"What exactly is your fucking problem?" he spat.

"My problem is that we don't need people like you lot," he gestured vaguely to the group opposing him, "making gays like Marsh, and I'm guessing _you_, feeling like you can come in here and expect to get back out alive," he grinned smugly down at the redhead who's eyes narrowed.

"So you're making death threats now? Because if you touch my best friend I swear to God I will come and kill you myself," he took a step closer to the brunette who actually looked pretty shaken for half a second before he quickly disguised it with another smug smirk.

"Fine," he chuckled deeply, "I'd like to see you try, you scrawny piece of shit. But just do me a favor first?" he glance around his group before smiling evilly back at the redhead, "Tell the fag he's off the football team. If he even bothers to show his face back here, that is; which I'd advise he doesn't."

He patted the smaller boy on the shoulder condescendingly and turned around to leave, his smirk still on his face as the guys around him just started shouting cheerfully back at the other people in the cafeteria in approval of what the taller jock had just said.

Clyde was with the group and he turned back and stared at the redhead sympathetically, but he quickly whipped back around to follow the rest of them out. He didn't look like he wanted to be with them (actually he looked like he wanted to burst into tears as he ducked his head in embarrassment), but in high school where self image seemed so important, he felt like he had no choice but to say he was on their side, even if that meant going against all of his natural instincts and agreeing with what he knew wasn't right.

Kyle stood silently as he watched them walk off, but he could feel the fire and the rage inside of him burning intensely. His clenched fists shook by his sides as he glowered at the posse.

They had to be kidding. Of course they were kidding. How could they not be…?

Football was one of the only things Stan had ever been sure of for his entire life. Ever since he was in diapers, football was his main hobby. As he grew up he became more passionate about it and it was what he knew he was destined to continue doing for the rest of his life. He was the star player for his team and planned on getting scouted and recruited so he could get a scholarship for college and live out the rest of his life as a Bronco, only stopping after he became old and crippled and turned to being a commentator for them instead. It was one of the only things that he had always been absolutely sure about and Kyle wasn't about to just let that be torn away from his best friend for a reason that wasn't in any way justified.

He could hear the shouts of people around him, but they weren't registering as words and just seemed to be a loud blur of sound, rippling through his mind like a tornado as he tried to control himself from pursuing the point. He knew it would only end badly; no matter how hard he tried, there were so many of them compared to the small amount of people on his side.

But in the end, he couldn't.

Kyle ran forward and grabbed at Bruce's arm, effectively twisting him around to stare back into his face, "No. No he's not."

"What the hell are you talking about now, Broflovski?" he sighed in an arrogant manner and a small smirk danced on his face.

"Stan's not off of the team," he replied quietly but firmly, his hand still latched onto the other boy's thick arm, his nails piercing into his skin.

"Of course he is; I'm not having a queer on my team!"

"Then why don't you leave the team yourself? You're the one with the problem, not Stan!"

Bruce could feel the tense stares gazing at him from around the room before hissing, "If you don't get off of me, I'll kick your fucking head in!"

He tightened his grip so that the boy let out a small wince of pain, "Stan is staying on the team. I don't give a shit about what you say you-."

"Or what?" he glared back down as he tried to viciously pull his arm away, but grimaced again as it resulted in some long scratches going down his arm as Kyle tried to keep his grip firm.

The redhead stayed silent as he held the boys stare, his own eyes narrowed as they stood facing each other. There were quiet murmurs and whispers going around the room as everybody waited expectantly. Suddenly, Kyle took a few steps back and looked cautiously at Cartman, Kenny and Butters who were watching anxiously. The larger boy still looked pissed off, but Kenny was holding on to him firmly so that he wouldn't do anything too brash. The Jew then glanced at the main bulk of the student body who were all just watching to see what he would do.

Just as he was about to turn back around and say something, he heard a quiet cry out of, "May the force be with you!"

Everyone present went silent as they all turned around to look at a supportive Kevin who gave a clumsy thumbs up at Kyle before he realized the stares he was getting and shied away, ducking his head and shuffling in his place awkwardly.

"Kevin, Goddamnit…" Cartman sighed as he face palmed in annoyance.

After a couple more moments of silence, Bruce let out a low growl, "You know what? This shit has gone on long enough."

He reached behind him and was handed a solid wood baseball bat from one of his friends. He smirked evilly at Kyle who still didn't realize exactly what was happening. The jock lifted it up high above his head and swung it down with as much force as he could muster at the small redhead standing in front of him.

WHACK.

There was a loud thud on the floor as there was a chorus of gasps and people crying out in fright. Most people rushed forward to surround the boy lying on the ground but were then pushed back in an attempt to give the boy some air even though they were all continuing in trying to get a glimpse of the body that seemed limp on the floor. Other people ran straight out of the door in fear of being associated with the occurrence and the rest, including Bruce Ardley, stay frozen in their spots, their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open as they observed the spectacle in front of them, the crimson blood dripping slowly off of the blunt weapon in his thick hands.

A pair of thin hands gripped tightly at the fallen boy's shoulders as he was shaken violently in an attempt to wake him up. There was no response from him as his stiff body drooped in the boys hands. There was a large gash in his head where the bat had made its impact; there was a lot of blood gushing out as the person holding him tried desperately to hold their hand against it to stop the excessive bleeding, but it was no use.

The blood continued to gush, the crowd continued to scream in horror and the boy continued to show no signs of life whatsoever. Time, for him at least, had grinded to a halt.

"Oh my God…" his voice was quiet and shaky as he stayed knelt down and he held the bloody body close to his own, tears rolling down his face as he gasped for air, "… he killed Kenny. You fucking bastard! You killed him! You killed Kenny!"

Kyle rocked the body gently in his arms as he screamed out in anger, his vision blurry from the tears. He could just about make out Cartman launching himself at the jock and beating the crap out of him, but instead of paying attention to it, he just continued to cry silently into the bloody corpse he was cradling tightly in his trembling hands.

**A/N: Oh shit, I killed Kenny. I'm a bastard.**

**Ok, so this chapter was just totally pulled out of my ass, after the phonecall, I didn't really know what to add, because as I said, it was only going to be short. But I realized I hadn't killed Kenny yet which I was actually going to do back at the camp but chose not to do so I was all like 'cool, let's kill Kenny, it'll be hilarious.'**

**But it wasn't.**

**But I'm fine with that.**

**Did you think it was Kyle that was dead? Hahahahaha. Funny times. **

**I decided against making it a really long chapter because once again I wanted to get this one up so sorry that it's stopped here. **

**Penultimate chapter guys! :'(**

**I don't really have much else to say on this chapter specifically, so I guess I'll see you next update!**

**^.^ XXX**


	20. Mes Amis

**A/N: So I haven't really got one of my usual author's notes for this chapter, I wanted to write a pretty long one because I have quite a lot of last stuff I want to say butttt, I haven't got around to writing it but I felt like this needed to be uploaded quickly so heres the finale! (and I'll add my last A/N as an extra chapter after I guess...)**

* * *

The gushing water was warm but it hit his skin like sharp little needles, excessively pricking him as he cradled his small body in the bottom of his bath tub. Quiet sobs escaped his mouth and his red locks clung to his face and neck as he let the water continue to pour on top of him.

It had all happened so fast; he didn't know what had been happening, and if it hadn't been for Kenny coming forward and pushing him out of the way of that bat, it would have been him who had been lying there in a bloody heap in the middle of the cafeteria floor.

Kenny had leapt forward the moment he had seen Bruce reach for the bat and instantly knew what was going to happen. Unlike everybody else whose time was going so fast they didn't really what was happening when, for him, time had slowed down significantly. He saw the boy's mouth move as he uttered 'You know what? This shit has gone on long enough,' and as his mind rapidly processed the words he realized what he was going to do. He bounded forward and pulled Kyle backwards whilst stumbling and propelling himself forward instead. He knew what was going to happen and so he shut his eyes quickly, hoping it would be as swift and painless as possible, although by the look of the weapon he highly doubted it. So much for his lucky streak. He didn't care though; when a friend is in danger, they need to be your main priority and your fears need to be kicked out of the window.

Obviously, Kyle didn't know that the boy who had just sacrificed himself would be able to return again the next day and so a strong feeling of guilt was surging through his body, each water droplet falling from above him reminding him of the gushing of Kenny's crimson blood as he remembered clinging to the boy in the hope it would help him in some way. He did everything he could think of to revive the blonde, whose hair was then matted and scarlet, but nothing worked as Kyle felt like he could literally sense the life leaving Kenny's thin body as he clasped to the boy in his hands, screaming out in anguish as he realized it was too late to save him from passing over. There was nothing he could do or could have done to stop it from happening, but it was understandable that the redhead felt like it was all his fault.

He had been the one who had gotten Bruce Ardley mad, not Kenny. He was the one, Bruce had wanted to swing for, not Kenny. Hell, he was technically the 'reason' Stan had now admitted he was gay and so from Kyle's point of view, no matter how you looked at it, it always boiled down to it being his fault, and definitely not Kenny's.

He continued to bawl as he started to scrub off the dried patches of the blonde's blood off of his body; it had seeped through all his clothes and so he found traces of it all over him which just continued to increase the guiltiness he could feel bubbling up inside of him. As the blood mixed with the water and the red stream disappeared down the plug hole, he felt as if he was saying his goodbyes to him and went over all of his fondest memories with the bubbling blonde in his head.

The amazing times they had all had together over the years; the adventures, the mishaps, the ups, the downs, everything. They fogged his mind as tears spilt out of his eyes and down his pale cheeks. Even though it was horrible for Kyle to now think that the tall blonde was now dead forever, it reminded him of just how important it was to appreciate the things he had in life and live his life the best he could, for Kenny's sake.

He quickly finished his shower and pulled on some clothes as he sniffled and tried to stop the tears streaming out of his eyes. He wiped at them with the back of his hand and blinked rapidly before taking a deep breath and walking out of the bathroom and into his bedroom.

Stan was sitting on the redhead's bed quietly, his head held in his hands as he occasionally let out short moans of grief. As he heard the door open, he lifted his head gradually to look at Kyle standing there in front of him. They just stared at each other silently for a long while, neither knowing what exactly to say.

The dark haired boy eventually broke the stare by standing up slowly and taking a few steps towards the other boy. In turn, the redhead took a few steps forward as well and they continued to do so until they met in the middle of the room. Once again they found themselves being silent until Stan opened his arms and Kyle fell into them, tears beginning to roll down once again.

Stan hugged him tightly, rocking his thin body gently and rubbing his back comfortingly as he tried hard to resist crying himself. He was obviously distraught by the whole situation, but he wasn't really a crier. The combination of everything that had happened recently, Kenny dying and him now having a distressed Kyle in his arms was enough to let him allow himself to let out one lone tear, but that was all as he quickly blinked back the prickling he could feel in his eyelids and led the Jew over to his bed.

He had been in Kyle's house almost all day. As the redhead had left the house earlier that morning, he had gone back to bed and slept for the entire morning, only waking up at one point to go to the bathroom. When he did that he had texted Kyle and then gone back to bed, only to then be woken up again by the Jew's phone call. He had been a bit cranky and so that was why he had hung up the phone on him, but although he knew it was pretty farfetched, he felt like now if he had kept him on the phone a bit longer he might not have gone back to the cafeteria and the whole situation could had been avoided.

Butters had been the one to call him to tell him what had happened whilst Cartman was busy pummeling Bruce to a bloody (but luckily for him, still breathing) pulp and Kyle was preoccupied trying to revive Kenny. The small and flustered blonde didn't know what to do and what he could do to help, so he tried to imagine what the other boys would do. The only thing he could think of was that they would call each other to help and so as Stan was the only one who wasn't present he quickly dialed his number and told him what had happened.

The dark haired boy had ran his way to the school; it was pretty far but he had enough stamina and general fitness to make it there without even breaking a sweat after he had heard about it. He arrived to see Bruce being dragged out to an ambulance, muttering something about how he 'didn't mean for it to be that hard', but Stan quickly dismissed the sight and ran in search of his friends. As he tore through the hallways of shouting and crying people and broke through the doors of the cafeteria, he saw that the room had emptied to leave only Butters, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny left in there.

Butters was nervously knelt down next to Kyle, patting his shoulder as the redheaded teenager was sitting silently staring at the dead body in front of him. Kyle's face was pale and striped of all emotion as he refused to even blink in the fear that if he did so the body would disappear and there's be nothing left of him whatsoever. Cartman was sitting at one of the tables, his legs tapping anxiously and his head down against the hard bench in front of him. His arms were sprawled out in front of him, streaks of blood covering his chunky hands whilst it blended in with the material of his jacket. He was shaking violently and wouldn't even attempt to look at Kenny lying there because he didn't want to accept the inevitable truth of the situation.

Stan went forward and stared down at his tall blonde friend sadly before reaching down and lifting him carefully out of Kyle's grasp. The stubborn redhead was still refusing to look away or let go and so it took a while, but eventually the dark haired boy convinced them all that they had to let him go as some undertakers came in to remove the body from the premises.

After a long while of silence, the boys shakily stood up and walked outside. It was now raining heavily and the boys soon discovered that everybody had been dismissed from school. Stan hooked his arm delicately around Kyle's shoulders as the boy shuddered in his hold. Cartman now seemed to have calmed down a lot more than before and although it was being heavily debated, he ended up driving them all home. He hurriedly dropped off Butters at his house and then came to a stop in front of Stan's house.

The dark haired boy glanced at his home and back at the redhead who was sitting next to him. He was biting on his lip viciously as his body quivered and his glassed over eyes stared at the floor of the car and sighed.

He reached over and held Kyle's hand in his own before speaking softly, "Are you going to be okay on your own?"

Instead of giving a proper response, the boy had just shook his head slowly before pulling his hand away to wipe some tears that were rolling down his cheeks. He didn't look at him, but he placed his hand back in the other boy's hand and squeezed it tightly. Stan stared at Cartman whose face just seemed void of any kind of feelings as he stared at the steering wheel; he was obviously trying to stop himself from showing any signs of emotion, but it didn't seem wise to bring that up with him. Instead, the dark haired boy shook his head at the larger boy who just sighed and continued to drive until he reached Kyle's house.

He made sure they got in the house and then sped off back to his own home. As Stan had his hand firmly clamped to Kyle's, he felt himself be dragged up to the boy's room. Once again he was left sitting in wait as the Jew went to have a shower, but this time he was distressed to hear the quiet sobs of the boy on the other side of the door. He wanted to do nothing more but run in there and comfort him, but no matter how close they were, he knew that was obviously not a good idea. He just waited anxiously instead, going through it all in his head.

As the two boys hugged as they sat on the edge of Kyle's bed, he could feel Stan pulling him in closer and instead of resisting he let the muscular boy hold him tighter as he then nuzzled into the boy's shoulder. Each time an audible weep escaped Kyle's lips, the dark haired boy would squeeze him tenderly until he was quiet again.

They stayed in the position for quite a while before eventually Stan ended up lying on his back with the Jew's head resting on the other's chest, the first boy cradling the second soothingly. If the circumstances hadn't been so disastrous, it would have been a perfect moment for him to be in. It still was for Stan, actually, but he didn't want to say or do anything that would ruin the instance and so he just continued to run one of his hands playfully through the boy's red locks and use the other to grip tightly onto Kyle's.

He had stopped crying now and anything that came out of his mouth was a small sniffle as he let his head move up and down on Stan's muscular chest to the rhythm of the boy's breathing. He clung to the other boy's hand desperately, scared that letting go would mean he would burst back into tears.

Being held in Stan's hold made Kyle feel much calmer about the entire situation, even though he still felt terrible about it all. It was just something about them being so close in that moment that caused his whole body to relax fully into the dark haired teenager's embrace. It just felt… right.

He sighed quietly as he wriggled slightly and then sat upwards, his hand still fully clutching onto Stan's own. He stood up slowly and let their fingers gradually slide out of the hold as he made his way across the room and stopped in front of his bookcase. He frowned as he thought something looked out of place, but he couldn't really put his finger on what exactly it was and so he just ignored it and reached into the back of it and pulled out his heavy green memory book. He traced his fingers slowly over the picture of the four boys on the front cover and blinked quickly to stop any more tears from spilling.

"Kyle, what are you looking at?" Stan was now sitting crossed legged on the redhead's bed, his back resting against the wall as he glanced halfheartedly at the other boy.

He didn't respond, but Kyle made his way back over to the bed and settled down sitting in the middle of Stan's lap. The dark haired boy quickly wrapped his arms around the other boy's waist and bent his head downwards to rest on the redhead's shoulder with his eyes closed tightly so he could enjoy the moment as much as possible as he felt the smaller boy lean back against him peacefully. He cuddled him gently as he affectionately nuzzled his head against Kyle's neck; the boy's red curls tickling his cheek softly.

As he slowly opened the book, he let a small smile tug at the corner of his lips as he observed the photograph in the front cover. It was the one of them standing next to the sign where they had their arms over each others' shoulders. He looked at the bubbling blonde in the bottom of the photo; he looked so happy, so full of life and it made him melt further into Stan's hold as he tried to push away all the constant feelings of guilt he felt.

He quickly looked across onto the first actual page and saw a picture of Stan and himself and his small smile returned. They were incredibly young; they were still in diapers at the time, it was back when their parents had first introduced them to each other and so they weren't that well acquainted to each other yet. They both appeared to be sitting on the floor of one of the families' kitchen floors on a play mat and Kyle was scribbling at a piece of paper with a frustrated look on his face whilst Stan seemed to be trying to push crayons into the other boy's hair. It was a funny sight and although neither boy had been able to recall the memory, Kyle had felt it necessary to include it in the book as it was the first time he had met his then soon to be 'super best friend'.

"Stan, look," he gently nudged the boy behind him, his voice soft and he raised the book higher so that the dark haired boy could see it more clearly.

As he opened his eyes slowly, he chuckled quietly as he saw the picture before nestling back into the other boy's neck, murmuring, "I guess I've always had a thing for your hair, even back then."

"Yeah… Do you remember the night we made this thing? That was pretty sweet," he sighed contently as he turned to the next page in the book.

When Kyle had first proposed the idea of making this book, Stan had been straight on board to help him do so. They had spent an entire day searching everywhere they could think of looking for any photos or other kinds of memories they could stick in there and then spent the night with them all sprawled out across Kyle's bedroom floor as they organized them all and worked out how to put them in. They were just going to make it random at first, but they then decided to do it in chronological order so that when they looked back on it at a later date it would make a lot more sense and it would also make it easier when they were putting new ones in.

They had spent the whole night awake doing the task because due to their many adventures and mishaps they had had a lot of memories to put in. They had gotten a lot of drawings from Kenny to reproduce some that they didn't actually have any evidence from like from when the four boys had all become such good friends in kindergarten. They hadn't gotten a photo from that, but they could all remember it clearly and so it hadn't been hard for the blonde to recreate the moment on paper.

"Stan…? How do you know when you are completely one hundred percent sure of something…?" his voice was quiet as he slowly closed the book and then closed his eyes.

"What do you mean?" he opened his own as he leaned forward slightly to try and observe the look on the redhead's face but he wasn't showing any signs of emotion whatsoever.

"I mean, if you want to do something, how do you know it's what you truly want and not just what you think you have to do…?"

Stan continued to stare at him as he tried to work out what Kyle was talking about; he was hoping that the boy was talking about him and was finally going to tell him how he felt, but he didn't want to get his hopes up too much in case it wasn't, "I guess you just… know," the other boy stayed silent for a moment and so he took this as an opportunity to carry on, "Like… I know that this is exactly what I want."

"What do you mean by 'this'?" he opened his eyes and stared back at the bright blue ones that were gazing back at him.

"This; me sitting here with you in my arms, knowing that there is nowhere else in the world that I'd rather be than right here next to you when you need me," he sighed quietly and ducked his head back onto Kyle's shoulder.

"Oh…" he could feel his face heating up as the grip around his waist tightened, "Well, Stan…?"

"Hmm?" he mumbled quietly.

"I like 'this'… I like it a lot…" he let his voice trail off as he could feel Stan's face turn into a bright smile and as he looked back at him he could see that the boy was now beaming.

"Really?"

"Yeah," he smiled back as his face turned crimson, "But I don't want to talk about it… not right now…I just thought you should know…"

"Well I'm glad you told me," he lightly kissed the redhead's neck as Kyle leaned back and held on tightly to the hands that were gripped snugly around him.

He sighed again contentedly and picked up the book in front of him for a second time and continued to turn the pages slowly, a sad smile consistently on his face. They stayed in their intimate positioning for well over an hour or two; Kyle reliving his old memories and Stan just enjoying having him on his lap, inhaling the Jew's scent as he snuggled closer. Occasionally Kyle would nudge the other boy to show him something in the book and they would talk about it quietly before falling back into comfortable silence.

After a the redhead had reached the end of looking through the big green book, he curled further into Stan's arms as the boy rocked him comfortingly and then he quickly stood up, placed the book back and ran out of his bedroom door, gesturing for Stan to stay where he was. The dark haired boy was going to follow him out anyway, but he realized that it was possible that the boy's family may have returned and he didn't want to come into an awkward encounter with one of them and so he stayed put. It took quite a while for Kyle to return with a few cans of soda and a lot snacks for them to eat.

"I didn't know how long you were staying for, so I didn't want you to go hungry," he shrugged his shoulders as he dropped the items in front of his best friend.

He then disappeared again outside of the bedroom, closing the door behind him, as Stan eagerly started tucking into the food. The dark haired boy could hear some quiet murmuring coming from behind the door, but ignored them as he continued to eat. The mumbling got louder and he realized he could hear two different voices and got a bit concerned at the angry tones to them.

Just before he stood up to go and take a quick peek at what was happening, the door flew open with a bang as Ike stood glaring at him in the doorway, "You're a freakin' asshole. Don't fuck my brother's," and with that he narrowed his eyes at the jock again and walked out of the room as Kyle just rolled his eyes and came in closing the door again.

"What the hell…?" he gazed at the redhead in confusion as the boy flopped down next to him, leaning his back against the wall as well.

"He's just being a retard, ignore him," he chuckled quietly to himself.

"Why did you tell him I'm here?"

"I dunno. I just tell him everything, I wasn't really thinking about it," he shrugged his shoulders as he leaned his head onto Stan's arm.

"What exactly did you say to him? He seems more pissed off at me than he was before!" he growled in annoyance.

"I told him Kenny had died and he said he already knew from one of his many 'contacts' and he then went on to tell me that Cartman had told him all about what happened yesterday and that he was going to cut off your balls if you went anywhere near him or me again," he laughed again quietly as he saw the look of dread on Stan's face, "But then I told him that I wasn't going to let him and then he just straight out asked me if I liked you but then before I could even answer he just came in here and well you know the rest.."

"Jesus Christ… I'm glad to see you find this so hilarious," he squirmed as he spoke sarcastically, "He really hates me now, dude. Do you think he'll come and slit my throat in my sleep or something?"

"No he doesn't and no he won't because if he does I'll kick his ass," he giggled softly as he gave Stan's hand a quick squeeze, "But does that mean that you want to stay here tonight?"

"Do you want me to? Because I'll stay if you need me to," he fixed his eyes onto Kyle's as the emerald eyed boy smiled back at him.

He was still feeling bad, but he didn't feel like he needed Stan around to comfort him anymore now that he had gotten everything off of his chest, but that didn't change the fact that he could see a small glint of hope in the bright blue eyes staring back at him, "Yeah, if it's okay with you, could you stay again?"

Kyle watched as the smile on the other boy's face broadened and giggled again before looking serious for a moment, "But don't you need to let your parents know you're alright? I mean, they must still be so worried about you…"

"If I tell them I'm back they'll just want me to come home…"

"Then… send your mom a text or something? Just saying that you're safe and that she doesn't need to worry about anything… She must be so scared, dude, you can't just let her think that."

"Okay… I guess you're right…" he pulled his phone out of his pocket and lazily started poking at the keys to send the message.

For the rest of the evening Stan and Kyle spent their time talking, watching TV and playing video games. All the while the dark haired boy tried to stay as closely linked to the redhead as possible whilst the latter just tried to enjoy their time together. It had actually been a while since the two of them had had a proper sleep over and so he wanted to make the most of it. The underlying sadness of the day still hung heavily over him, but Kyle tried to make things as positive as possible for himself and felt happier as he let Stan weave his arms around him. He had had to go downstairs to eat his dinner at one point but he told his parents he had a really long and hard essay he had to do so that he could spend the rest of the night in his room undisturbed.

But that was until the clock struck midnight. As soon as the digital clocks all returned to 00:00 and the analogue ones had all of its hands pointing towards the 12, it felt as if a giant weight had been lifted. Like everything was fine. Like nothing had happened. As Kyle realized this feeling, he tried to remember what _had_ happened and came to no result. He shrugged his shoulders to himself and continued to focus on the game he was playing. He had no recollection of anything bad happening that day; the only things he could remember was his conversation with Craig and then him somehow ending up spending the rest of the day in Stan's arms.

Soon after, there were two simultaneous vibrations coming from the phones in both of the boys' pockets. As they paused their game, they both looked at their own version of the identical text they had both just received:

*Unknown- come 2 the den, its urgent*

"Who's this from…?" Kyle asked himself quietly as Stan appeared to be mumbling the same thing to himself, "Did you just get this message?" he showed the message to the dark haired boy who nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah… That's weird. So what should we do? Should we go?"

"How can we? We don't know who it is; it's the middle of night, why do they want us at the Den?"

"Well there's only one way to find out, I guess," he shrugged his shoulders as he reached for his jacket.

"You're going to go?"

"Yeah, why not?"

Kyle thought it over in his head before just shrugging his shoulders too, "I dunno... Okay, whatever, but let's go out the window, that way we're less likely to get caught leaving."

Just as Stan opened the window and began to climb down onto the ledges, the redhead heard his phone start ringing. He hurriedly answered it so that it wouldn't be heard by his parents who he assumed were now asleep in one of the other rooms.

"Was that you who just texted me?" he could hear Cartman's voice start speaking grumpily as soon as he had answered the call.

"The one about meeting in the Den?"

"Yeah that one, you woke me up you stupid Jew…!" he yawned loudly.

"It wasn't me fat ass! Me and Stan got the same one."

"Whatever, I was just about to go over there; do you want me to get you two?"

"You're getting pretty generous in letting me in your car, aren't you?" he replied sarcastically.

"Fine, you can walk you ungrateful asshole!"

"No, come on dude, I was kidding, we'll be waiting outside," he quickly hung up the phone before the other boy had the chance to retaliate.

He quickly scrambled out and joined Stan who was waiting down on the ground for him, "What took you so long?"

"Cartman said he got the same text, he said he's going too."

"Okay… So…"

"_So_… He said he'll drive us."

"Whatever," Stan kicked at a rock in the ground in slight annoyance.

He had been quite looking forward to walking alone with Kyle; he could have held his hand as they made their way and if the small redhead ever got nervous as they walked the empty streets he would be able to put his arm around him and tell him that he'd keep him safe. He sighed discontentedly as he thought about it but was surprised when he felt a thin hand slither into his own.

Kyle was pulling him towards the front of the house as their fingers intertwined. Stan squeezed the other boy's hand tightly in fear that if he loosened his grip any more that the redhead would pull away, but as he slowly relaxed his hand, Kyle's stayed held in his. He smiled to himself as he could feel the warmth from the Jew's body radiating next to him but frowned again when he saw Cartman's car pull up.

Despite his internal objections, the dark haired boy didn't mention them out loud and so instead spent the entire journey silent as he zoned in and out of one of Kyle and Cartman's many arguments. He wasn't sure if the redhead had even realized that their hands were still clamped together, but he had no intention of telling him as they spent the ride hand in hand whilst Cartman was still bickering with him in the front seat.

The larger boy parked the car as the two other boys ran ahead into the surrounding forest of the pond as they made their way to the Den. They weren't too worried about running through there in the dead of night; it wasn't like anybody had been killed out there or anything, well not that they knew of anyway. They knew the route so well that they didn't even need to be able to see properly to make their way there in only a few minutes.

As Stan and Kyle reached the clearing, they could hear loud chatter coming from inside the Den as Cartman came from behind them, his phone pressed to his ear as he mumbled angrily. Kyle continued to drag the dark haired boy around to the entrance of the shack and saw that there were quite a lot of people there. He took his place in his chair as the other two boys did the same and looked at everybody else's puzzled and tired faces.

"Hey, Kenny, do you know what's going on?" Kyle whispered across the table to a pretty laidback Kenny who was lounging carelessly in his badly made chair.

"Er… No… Why would I…?" he quickly averted his eyes so that Kyle wasn't able to see him.

Kenny had been the one to call everybody together. He didn't want them to know it was him because they would probably all tear him to shreds for disturbing them in the middle of the night, but he wanted to make sure they were all there before he said what he wanted to say. They were 'lucky' it was Kenny who had gotten killed, because now they had all forgotten the whole incident and none of his friends had gotten hurt, but if there was a next time it might not be so convenient.

"Damn it, Butters, I really don't care if you're here or not, just get yourself down here or piss off," Cartman growled as he slammed his phone back onto the table in annoyance.

Everybody who was present had already gotten straight back into their usual routine of placing their phones on the 'torch app' and placing it in front of them so that they could all use the lights to be able to see each other's faces instead of sitting in complete darkness. It made the whole event look quite sinister, actually, but that was the best light source they were going to get at that time of the night.

"Is Butters coming?" Kenny asked as vaguely as possible.

"I don't know; he was freaking out about how he didn't know who it was and then I told him that we were coming and he started going on about how his parents were going to ground him if he left the house and he asked me what he should do but I told him I didn't care," he shrugged his shoulders moodily as he settled into his beanbag and closed his eyes as he made no attempt to stay awake.

Just before he dozed off, he opened an eye as heard a very loud and annoyed groan coming from the opposite end of the table; it was Craig who was now standing up staring at each person present, "Why the fuck am I here? Who sent that stupid message?"

After a moment of silence, he sat back down angrily, his fist banging loudly on the table. He stared at each person there; there was himself, Clyde, Tweek, Token, Kevin, Jason, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and a lot more of the boys' friends.

"Well… I don't know what's going on here…" Kenny started slowly as everyone turned to stare at him, "But I think as long as we're all here anyway, we should clear some things up."

"What things…?" Clyde asked curiously.

"Things like…" he stopped for a moment as he looked at the dark haired jock, "How Stan is gay," there was an awkward silence as everybody glanced at each other and then back at the blonde.

Stan looked surprisingly calm as Kenny spoke whereas Kyle was now blushing bright red, especially as he saw Craig staring at him with an oddly smug glint in his eye. It didn't read across his face, but the redhead could tell it was there. He noticed that Tweek had his hand gripped tightly to the stoic boy's own. The redhead let a small smile tug at his own lips as he noticed this but didn't say anything as Kenny began to speak again.

"…and how Cartman is _finally_ going out with Wendy after all of the sexual tension that's been building up between them," he chuckled to himself as there were more glances between people.

"Ay! I said we're not telling anyone yet dickhead!"

"What? When were you planning on telling _me_? When did all this happen?" Kyle asked in annoyance.

"Yesterday," the tall blonde tried to quickly change the subject before the two boys could get in another disagreement, "But that's not what I'm trying to say. What I'm trying to say is that a whole load of shit has happened to us, and I know you guys all have your own stuff going on too," he vaguely gestured to the other end of the table, "But we need to stick together guys. People can be pretty brutal when it comes to stuff like this and I want to make sure we all have each other's backs. I don't want anyone to get hurt."

After a moment of confused silence and then another of hushed whispers, Craig stood up again facing the tall blonde and then the other boys on the opposite end of the shack, "I've got your backs, guys."

"Y-yeah, me, me too," Tweek, still holding Craig's hand, stood up next to him and smiled nervously.

"And me," Token stood up and stared down at Clyde who was glancing at each of the boys standing around him.

"Yeah… I got your backs, dudes," he sighed and stood up, but he had a small smile on his face.

Slowly, everybody else at the table began to stand up and agree with the statement until everybody around the table was standing.

"Well you know what?" Kyle started talking as everybody hushed again, "I've learnt something over these last few days. Crazy stuff is going to happen all the time; it's inevitable in this backwards redneck town. But it's moments like these which make putting up with it all worthwhile. We've all been through so much together and I guess it's good to know that no matter what, you'll always have people behind you. Look at the walls; all these times when we've done so much together and to this day, no matter what has happened, we all still care about each other, no matter how much you might try to deny it," he gave a weak smile at Cartman who just rolled his eyes in jest.

"We might all rip on each other all the time, but somewhere underneath all of that is an actual friendship and even though you guys might all think I'm an asshole, as we're all being all emotional and stuff, I guess… I really am glad we're all friends," Cartman spoke slowly and hesitantly but was happy to be greeted by a table full of smiles and nods of agreement as he finished his sentence.

"Aww, Eric, we're glad to be your friends too!" Butters came rushing into the shack and threw his arms around Cartman who just growled loudly and pushed him back off of him.

"Get the fuck off of me, Butters," he squirmed away and pushed the small blonde in the direction of Kenny who just grinned and gave him a hug instead.

"I think the main thing here is that it takes times when you are severely tested in life to realize exactly what it is you want," he smiled warmly at Kyle who just blushed again, "and who exactly your real friends are. Even if you don't realize it, without the people who are here right now, your life probably would have been much worse and so, thanks for just being there my friends."

"Mis Amigos," Kyle and Butters replied in unison, laughing across the table.

"Meinen Freunden," Cartman nudged the redhead next to him with a smug grin and was met by a roll of the boy's emerald eyes as he sighed in slight annoyance.

Kenny smiled as everyone around the table beamed back at one another and sighed contently, "Mes amis."

_~fin~_


	21. Goodbye AN

**My very long and last A/N:**

**So first off guys, I'd just like to say a MASSIVE thank you for all of the people who have read the story and an even bigger one to the ones who have left reviews and sent me messages with helpful comments. They seriously made me really happy and made me feel like all the time I spent writing was worth it. If you don't want to read the rest of this, I totally get it :P**

**I think this entire A/N is more for me to recap and plan what I'm doing myself actually, but I'll let you in on what's going around in my head…**

**I know it wasn't perfect; I've been looking through some chapters and have found some absolutely terrible spelling and grammar mistakes, but I've rectified those and I'll eventually be getting around to doing the rest soon enough for any future readers. (If you have just finished reading and know where there are mistakes, could you leave and review or message me so I can fix it? Thanks ^.^)**

**If you're interested, the actual story was 97,820 words without all my authors notes (wow. I must have written a lot of crap in these things…) But I still think that's a lot and it must have taken people quite a while to read, especially if they started mid-way and so once again thanks for staying with it!**

**I first uploaded on the 5/5/2012 and uploaded my last official chapter on 6/24/2012 (or 24/6, which ever way round you read it :D) and so that means it took me just over 1 month and 19 days to complete… Hmm… that isn't actually that long… I must have spent a lot more of my revision time on this than I was meant to… :P**

**So what pairings did I have?**

**-Stendy**

**-Implied Kyndy**

**-Candy**

**-One-sided Brutters**

**-One-sided Cryde**

**-Style**

**Wow, that's quite a lot for a story not fully based on romance. But meh. Pairings are cool. I mean, there _is_ meant to be some romance sprinkled in there. Romance would suck if there were no pairings. Well unless it was a triangle or something. Plus the main friendship thing got attacked by a giant 'love bomb' anyway. But that's beside the point. The point is: - None of these are any of my actual favorite ships (except for Brutters- That shit is adorable. 'Cartman Sucks' is one of my favorite episodes for that reason :P. And I made that one sided. Damn…) What the hell is wrong with me? (A lot.)**

**I guess I wanted a challenge. Writing this story was definitely a challenge. I'm glad I did it though; I normally start stuff and bail out before I complete it, but the support from people convinced me it was worth continuing, plus it was pretty fun and it gave me something to escape to when I was stressing myself out over exams and stuff. Plus it got me to keep to 'deadlines' which I guess is a good skill to have? So nobody can say this was all a waste of time, it's teaching me life lessons :")**

**Ok, so for anybody wondering what I'm doing next, I'll probably do some one shots for a while before I jump into a completely new project. I might use the 100 themes challenge for ideas, but I doubt I'll do many of them, my attention span for one shots isn't that long, if I'm doing something long it all has to be part of one story.**

**Oh, and I know some people have asked me if I'm going to do a Kyman and well… I really want to… But I'm still scared that I'm not going to be able to write it well and it will just make me sad and I'll feel like a disgrace to the Kyman fan-base :P**

**I'll probably do a one-shot on them though, but probably not anything too long. I'll persevere. So watch this space :")**

**Oh and for my next full length thing, I had the idea of doing something pretty Cryle based. I wasn't sure, but I think it's a cute pairing and there isn't much of it. It's probably because when you think of Kyle with a dark haired guy it's automatically going to be Stan, right? Well no, fuck Style. Yep, I said it, I'm a hypocrite. I don't care. So there. *sticks tongue out at you* Cryle is so much better than Style. End of story.**

**So, that's it. It's over. It's done. 'Mes Amis' is now fully complete, A/N and everything. I feel like I should want to cry.**

**Goodbye, Mes Amis, and for the last time, thanks for reading.**

**^.^**

**XXX**


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